The DualEdged Blade
by Syngen Segumi
Summary: Kenshin returns from Kyoto and has an Epic religious experience. AP, and spiritual themes (Continuing) A little Lime, no Lemon.
1. The Fall

Disclaimer Notice: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or any of the characters created thereof. I did create Hikari all on my own, though.

  
  
  
  


When the passageway opened into the cavern, she could see that they had interrupted something serious. She raised one of her swords and called out to her creator as she bore down on the small crowd of oni and their commanders. White light shot out from the ceiling to her upraised blade, surrounding her and her friends in a flaming nimbus of divine protection. A black withering cloud swept toward her, and staggered her back. Thousands of voices screamed in her head, begging for control as her skin burned where the foulness touched her. She continued forward, magic firing in every direction, ignoring the burning and pain. She had to close the gap. 

  
  


Something moved to meet her. She raised her arm again, turning the blade sideways and aiming her metal-covered fist at it. The word escaped her lips and a blue wave of force knocked the thing back. She charged on, smashing into it with the power and speed her purpose gave her. As she overran the beast, she took advantage of the added height to leap upward and forward, planning to land in the middle of the largest group of demons. Right before she landed, she snapped her wings out wide again, and spoke the word He had given her. Her voice rolled through the air like distant thunder, the divinity snapped like lightning, and in a flash, the ring she landed in was cleared.

  
  


She turned to continue, black hair whipping around her in ribbons of razor-edged midnight, her eyes a rabid balefire green as they locked on to her next target. Finally, she thought, some real action.

  
  


The nimbus around her flared in an attempt to protect her from another magical assault, but it fell, buckling around the force that pushed through it. Everything went white.

  
  


********

  
  


The purple curtain of sky was spotted with sparkling stars as the silence of the night seemed to breathe in time with the sleepers in the dojo. Kenshin leaned inside the doorway, barely asleep, his sword on his shoulder, his breathing becoming slower. He never quite saw the depth of sleep, as the sky suddenly flashed white with lightning and he heard the dull thud just outside. He sprang forward in his crouch, sliding the shoji to the side just enough to peer around the edge.

  
  


What he saw stopped his heart in his chest. More out of surprise than fear. White fires were dying around a sort of human form crumpled in the courtyard. Two wings, colored with pointed feathers ranging from blood red to brilliant yellow arched from her back, one of them was clearly broken, snapped nearly in two near the top, where blood seeped its way down toward the ground. It was female, the shape of her as she struggled to stand gave that away. Kenshin stuck his hand out to the side, stopping the inslaught of Kaoru, Yahiko, and Sanosuke. "It may not be safe Miss Kaoru," he whispered quietly, nodding toward one of the blades on the ground near her hand.

  
  


The creature tucked her knees under her, trying to get the leverage to stand, and after a couple of tries, managed to get upright. It did look human, sort of. It was tall, with delicate aquiline features. It's green eyes seemed luminous in the moonlight, and its ears were pointed, and stuck out of the black locks that now tumbled down around her face in disarray. She wore armor of some sort on certain parts of her body. Her chest was covered with a plate, but it looked like a fabric made from metal, that extended from her throat to a few inches below her navel. It fit tightly, but didn't seem to restrict her movements as she nudged her toe beneath her sword. She had another sword in a metal hand. Her entire right arm was covered with obviously heavy armor. Her left arm had a metal cuff that extended from wrist to elbow. She wore shin guards which looked to be black trimmed with gold, tight fitting trousers in black and high boots. She flicked the fallen sword up in the air and caught it deftly with her left hand, though the movement of her arm caused her to almost fall down again in pain. A fresh stream of blood trickled from her broken wing.

"Fetch Miss Megumi," Kaoru said, forgetting to whisper. The green eyes blinked, and she jumped in surprise. She swung her less armored arm out and the air filled with a shrieking louder than fireworks. She said something. Yelled it actually, but it couldn't be understood. Kenshin batted away the projectile with his blade, and stepped out of the house.

  
  


"What are you and what do you want?" He kept the blade up, pointed at her. That was when he saw her blades. They were edged on both sides, and their sharpness gleamed in the moonlight. Four blades to his one?

  
  


She answered. Again, incomprehensibly. When she saw Kenshin stare, his intention to cut her down, she looked up at the sky and said something again, this time different. While Kenshin couldn't understand what she said, it sounded musical, alive. It sang inside him and he felt an itching inside his head. The white fires around her finally died away, drifting between the two like wisps of smoke.

  
  


"Do I have to kill you?" She said plaintively...he understood her!

  
  


"Not unless you want to." He answered.

  
  


"I never want to kill anyone. Things, sometimes; people, never. Who are you, and where are we?"

  
  


"I am Kenshin and this is Miss Kaoru's house. Who are you and why are you here?" He watched her put both blades away at her hips. Somehow the need for formality seemed pointless. She had touched something in him to be able to understand him and so that he could understand her, but he sensed that she was truly unsuited to be here, and wouldn't understand the formality if it were offered.

  
  


She bent over a bit, her face contorted in pain, "Listen, this really hurts. Is there anything anyone here can do about it?"

  
  


Kenshin looked at those swords, still within easy reach of someone who was probably a skilled swordsman..er..woman..er...thing. "Miss Kaoru was kind enough to send for a doctor. If you can promise you're not here to hurt anyone, then I'll let you thank her yourself."

  
  


She understood, and unfastened the belts that held her swords in place. These she tied with a thong, peace bonding them. He could hear her whisper as she did so, and when she dropped them at her feet, they were neatly tied in their saya, not to be removed. His own violet eyes widened again in surprise. No sword master would surrender their weapons so easily. He looked back at her, her head hanging against her chest as the pain obviously was trying to win over her consciousness. He started to speak.

  
  


Her voice was strained as she interrupted him, "Anything to make you feel safe. My pride does not need to be protected. My wounds need to be tended. I will answer anything if I can be put to the air again." She tried to crane the wounded wing around to see the damage, but the attempt only elicited the most horrible cry from her throat. Kenshin felt her pain for just an instant, and his eyes teared up briefly in empathy. He realized that she was painfully beautiful, and something in him stirred. He understood that she wasn't an evil creature. She meant no harm to him or anyone. He felt her confusion, and her abandonment. Something had abandoned her. But why? He blinked, realizing that he was sensing her thoughts beyond hiten mitsurugi. 

  
  


"Don't be afraid Kenshin. You were closest to me, so you were chosen. I can't understand anyone else, and no one else can understand me. Our languages are so different that thought had to be included in the gift. I can feel your intentions as I hear you talk. And the same goes for you. If that doesn't make you feel safe, I don't know what would. That you will be able to feel my intentions, and you will know if ever I mean harm."

She raised her eyes past his shoulder into the depths of the dojo where Sano stood, waiting to see what would happen. Beyond him Yahiko came with Miss Megumi and Kaoru. Megumi stepped down in the courtyard and stopped dead cold. Her hands flew to her mouth.

  
  


"Tell her not to be scared Kenshin," the creature's frantic voice sounded like bells in a storm, "If she screams it will only draw more attention."

  
  


"Miss Megumi, have you not met my new friend? She needs help and is hurt badly. I assured her that you were the very best and that you would have her well again in no time." Kenshin led Megumi to the creature, who dropped to one knee as a courtesy, and tried to angle herself in such a way that the wound was easy to reach.

  
  


"Kenshin, what is this?" Megumi whispered, gingerly touching the feathers of the wing presented in front of her, "is it real?"

  
  


"I don't know, and quite so. She's nice, just in trouble I think," Kenshin turned a concerned eye to the front, where the creature's head was bowed. "You should tell me your name," he whispered, "If you have one."

  
  


The whisper was barely audible, but he saw a brilliant ray of light breaking the night sky and realized that she was trying to convey the name to him with the meaning.

  
  


The exchange went on for a while as Megumi ministered to the wound. At her instance, the creature removed the armor over her right arm and chest. Kaoru came to pick them up with the swords and she touched the girl on the hand, Kaoru couldn't understand the voice, but seemed surprised by its gentleness and the way it seemed to reach in at the heart.

  
  


Kenshin looked up from where he sat beside her, keeping vigil, he didn't raise his eyes as he said, "She says that those things are very precious to her. She says her.." he stopped, he knew the word was kami-sama, but that wasn't the image he received. He felt tenderness, a fatherly warmth, the tickle of a lover's breath against the ear, and overwhelming love and consumption for this being, and yet, there was a distance between them. He raised his eyes at Kaoru, "She just wants to know they are safe."

  
  


Kaoru looked at the creature, who, through the pain seemed beautifully vulnerable and weak, though she looked strong. "I will put them where I keep my own father's sword. They can be no safer."

  
  


Even before Kenshin could translate, he saw her bow her head, in thanks.

  
  


Megumi eventually finished tending the wound and left the creature sleeping in a quiet room while she spoke with Kenshin and Kaoru, "Kenshin, have you had any bad dreams lately? Any regrets that have surfaced and been eating away at you?"

  
  


Kenshin looked at her confused. Images from the creature still seeped into his mind, beautiful things, terrible things, and it was difficult to hear through the barrage of dream images he was taking in.

  
  


"Because I think that's a Kami. A lesser one, sent here for a purpose. Judging by the way she is dressed, I would think her a kami of vengeance, which means she is very likely after you, Kenshin. Someone must have called her down on you and she must have gotten hurt during the calling."

  
  


Kenshin nodded. "She feels alone. As if she were torn away from her home and her family. I know how she feels."

  
  


Kaoru pulled at Kenshin's sleeve, "Kenshin! Didn't you hear her? How can you feel sorry for someone or something that was sent here to kill you?"

  
  


Megumi nodded, "You're the only person who can understand her when she speaks. She looks like some kind of sword master. It's a reasonable conclusion."

  
  


Kaoru looked at Megumi, "Is there a way to stop it?"

  
  


Megumi looked down, "If the kami could be defeated or killed, then it would not come after Ken-san. But is very bad luck for someone to harm a divine agent; even if they are not here of their own will."

  
  


Kaoru nodded, "Well then I guess we'll just have to deal with the run of bad luck." She stood up and moved toward the door where the kami was sleeping, "I can't let her kill Kenshin." She slid the door back and fell on her back in surprise as the tip of a sword protruded out of the opening. The kami stepped into the room, one of the double edged swords pointed at Kaoru's throat. 

  
  


"Tell her that it takes a low breed of dog to kill someone in their sleep. Tell her that I thank her for her hospitality up to the point she decided I had to die. Tell her also that her death will be quick and merciful, and that I wish her no suffering." The kami's voice was hard and merciless.

  
  


Kenshin saw the regret. He felt the pain in her as she prepared her mind to kill Kaoru. Her bandaged wing bled under the wrappings, bleeding red into white bandages. He saw into her mind clearly as his hand closed around his own sword. He saw a whirling motion as the second sword rose and focused its point on him.

  
  


Kenshin stopped the blade with his own. "Don't do this. She won't kill you. She's only protecting me. If you are here for me, then you'll have to fight me. Just leave her out of this."

  
  


The motion she made as she turned her head and raised her brow at Kenshin were like water. Her loose smile was like the breeze, wanting to kiss him, but dancing away, "My pride may not need tending but yours does. Pardon me Mighty Himura as I step to a side to allow room for your vanity."

  
  


Her singsong voice only enhanced the taunt, and Kenshin bowed his head in embarrassment, "Forgive me, Kami-sama."

  
  


She shrugged at him, "Listen, this is not going to get any of us anywhere. You can't translate for me while they're talking to you, and frankly, they probably wouldn't believe me anyway. Can we get out of here? I promise no harm to anyone in this house as long as I am in it."

  
  


Kenshin relayed the words of the kami to the rest of the group. Their protests rose up in a cacophony of protectiveness. Kenshin raised a hand to still them. "I don't think this is everything we think it is. And I can't listen to you and her at the same time. Please. I'll be safe, she promises."

  
  


A few more minutes of cajoling got them alone, and the pair walked back outside.

  
  


"Tell me Kenshin Himura. Why do you think I came for you?" she asked him, not looking at him, but letting her words pierce him.

  
  


Kenshin looked at the path as they walked, "Megumi thinks you are a Kami of vengeance and that you were coming to take vengeance upon me."

  
  


"Why would anyone want to take vengeance upon you? Kindness is not something to be punished." She sat down upon a large rock. Her wing was bound in a folded position, but she stretched the other one out to a side.

  
  


Kenshin found a similar rock and sat facing her, "Things weren't always like this." Thoughts of the Hitokiri Battousai surfaced in his mind. Tomoe and blood and rain. He felt a sudden warmth, and realized that the kami was there with him, searching through his mind. They seemed to be walking together in a garden of images.

  
  


"You did some pretty dumb stuff," she said. She looked over the images that preoccupied his mind. Her face, delicate and strong at once, screwed up in a scowl. He could understand her name. She was the Lightseeker. "Why?"

  
  


"Because I thought it was the right thing to do."

  
  


"Oh. I can see the argument where killing is necessary to protect. But killing never preserves anything. Death brings change, no matter whose death it is. You have to find the foresight to understand what changes are coming because of the death that you are about to cause."

  
  


"I don't kill now. Even for my own safety."

  
  


The Lightseeker kicked at a passing memory, a fast kill, amber eyes, blood, "These are the actions of a child. This Battousai you fear isn't so much to be afraid of. He's a child. He's pouty and whiny and insistent. Just because he's violent is no new reason to fear him. As they are the actions of a child, they are in the past. Why do you fight with your past so much?"

  
  


"I'm afraid that the Battousai will take over again."

  
  


"You're afraid of a child?" Her tone was almost mocking, though her touch was warm and gentle as she pushed one of the locks of red hair from his face. She turned the coppery locks around in her hand studying them intently. "Himura, the Battousai can no more return than you can go back and erase his existence. Because there is no him and you. You are both the same person. Your denial of that fact is what makes your life so difficult."

  
  


He looked up at her, the harsh green of her gaze seemed a little softer. Her features, which were so sharp and severe a moment ago had softened to something warm and comforting. "Your talk makes it sound easy. But it isn't."

  
  


"My talk is just that. Talk. You're right. It's not supposed to be easy. It's not like you are a child anymore, doing what you are told and not having to take responsibility for your actions. Childhood was simple. Adulthood is useful." She draped an arm around his shoulders casually, "How useful has your maturity been Himura? Because your immaturity was a leach on the world."

  
  


He hung his head, he didn't know how to interpret her touch. It was gentle and comforting, The skin on the underside of her wrist where it touched his shoulder was hot and dry. He could feel the life pulsing there. Was she just toying with him before she tried to kill him? The thought surfaced before them both, as he had forgotten they were in his mind.

  
  


"Now that's a mean thought. Have I shown you anything but tenderness? Have I attacked you once? Since you showed yourself to me and didn't try to kill me right away, have I given you anything but the love I have for something I separated from? Excluding that little bit back there where I was trying to keep your girlfriend from killing me."

  
  


The scenery switched, and they were in a dank cavern where sulphur stank up the air. Then they were in a place were all was white and a deep voice said, "Where you go, I will not follow. My child, I can not carry you forever. You must find your own way home."

There she was, in the white, whole and vibrant, her hand outreached toward something, "I can't bear the pain of separation from you. Ease the agony that will be my existence. It will not keep me from finding my way into you again"

  
  


A face merged from the light, and thin lithe body not unlike the Kami's. His hands reached out to her and touched her face. He folded her into an embrace. "My child, I have loved you as well as any other, and better than most. You must find your own way."

  
  


The man kissed her, with both the tenderness of a father and the passion of a lover. He was her creator. Kenshin understood that. He looked at the battered kami beside him.

  
  


"I understand vengeance now less than I ever did. How could vengeance have such love? How could vengeance not relish its work?" Kenshin's voice broke the reverie and pulled them both back onto the rocks in the garden.

  
  


"Has it ever occurred to you that you are not sitting here with Vengeance? Though if you would like to know about the misery of vengeance, I will be happy to relate the story."

  
  


"You are not the kami of vengeance, come to punish me for my inhumanity?" Kenshin peered at her through the red fall of hair over his eyes. Her response was only to shake her head.

  
  


He sighed, "That's good then. Which Kami are you?"

  
  


The Lightseeker shrugged, "I guess it's a sort of guardian. I protect people who can't protect themselves." He could feel her struggling for a way to explain herself. trying to find words that would make sense to him.

  
  


"So you're here to protect me?" Kenshin pondered the idea.

  
  


She shrugged again, "But that's not why I came. I came because someone called my name, I think. It all happened so fast. I was fighting, defending, and then everything went bright white and I didn't have any ground under me. Which explains my fall and my broken wing. It was a bad calling though, and I'm not pleased to answer it at all. Someone's going to pay for this."

  
  


"So where is home?" Kenshin asked, just as his mind filled with a wild untamed landscape of spiring trees and jagged mountains clawing at the purple and blue sky. He saw verdant fields rippling in distant foreign breezes. And he saw the people, her people, the Kami who walked in the trees and danced in the sunlight.

  
  


"It's a wonderful place," He smiled, a little envious of the peace she could enjoy.

  
  


"Here's not so bad, for a mortal," she looked around.

Kenshin looked at her and shrugged.

  
  


She curled her knees to her chest and hugged them there. She was looking at Kenshin, studying his face. He realized that she had withdrawn from his mind, and he could only hear the words. 

  
  


"How can we get you home?" Kenshin asked, his longing for her return genuine. He ached to feel the love and connection the Kami brought with her. 

  
  


She shrugged again, shutting herself off from him. The reality of her situation was starting to sink in. She was really very stuck, and it would take some time. "If I can get my wing healed, I can hide them. I also can think a little more clearly without the interruption of the pain." She still stared at Kenshin, hard. 

  
  


It was a strange feeling of disconnection. Her cadences were like music, and her voice naturally portrayed her emotions, but without the mental link between them, he felt as though he could only see her reflection. The words sounded hollow, not resonating with the brilliance and color that he was fast becoming accustomed to.

  
  


"That would be handy to help you walk around in public. You may find your answers out there." He forced complacency into his voice and his gaze, not daring to break eye contact with her. She was unsettling enough when she was trying to be friendly. This was just plain disturbing. She was still staring at him. Hiten Mitsurugi apparently only works when faced with the like-minded. He had seen inside her mind, felt her pain and desolation. She did not think like him, and he could not read her.

  
  


She had shut herself off from him because she had seen the answer. She didn't like it, didn't agree with it, and wasn't ready to try and explain it to him yet. She tilted her head to one side, letting the knee-length locks fall over the edge of the stone, "Is there a river or something like that around here?"

  
  


"There is. Why? Night time is hardly the best time to fish," He still held eye contact. Her green eyes fairly glowed at him.

  
  


"I need a bath. I was in a messy battle before I landed here, and there are very likely places on me that are still hurt and need cleaning." She turned her wrist over and tried to peer up under the bracer that was there. She was in a half state of undress, her metal arm had been put away. So had the swords, but she had apparently found those, and they lay across her lap, folded up in her knee-hug so that the hilts stuck out on one side of her hips and the blades stuck out on the other. She had taken off her shoes and had not bothered to put them on when they came outside, so bare toes curled over the round surface of the stone. She still wore the bracer and the chest armor, and he had just now noticed a small satchel at her hip. It was brown and hooked onto yet another belt. He stared at that, deciding that it was easier than having to look into those ancient and frightening eyes.

  
  


"You bathe in the river?" He sounded surprised. "It's cold and wouldn't you be afraid someone would see you?"

  
  


"Yes, yes it is, and I've never really cared about that anyway. If someone has nothing better to do with their time than to watch me bathe, then I guess it's better than them doing nothing." She watched him watching her hip. "Something wrong? Did I get hit?" She turned a bit and sent both blades clattering to the ground. She looked back up immediately to see Kenshin going for the swords. He felt the connection flood open in his mind as he reached forward to catch the blades. She didn't trust him, he knew it. She was rifling his mind to search out his intent.

  
  


He caught them both before the hilts touched the ground, and in hefting them, was surprised by their lightness. The tsuba of the blades were not plain discs or coins, but elaborate tongues of flame that reached part of the way down the blade and arced up to the pommel in a spiral of reddish gold flames reaching for the silvery crescent moon in the pommel. There were markings down the blade, delicate curling and curving lines that he could not understand. He raised his eyes to meet hers, and focused on her. He could feel himself taking control over the link, and saw the images of her mind. Not the ones she wanted to show him, but some of the dirty laundry too. He saw the blood running down the blades, he saw them clashed together and shattering into millions of tiny shards as they ripped the flesh and powdered the bone. He saw the raw power of destruction that she could be. He saw her fighting style, a combination of speed and strength. She overpowered her foes, and drove them down before her. She could hit several times in very rapid succession, but he saw that she lost accuracy with each swing. 

  
  


She felt him in her mind, going after the things an opponent would go for. He couldn't be allowed to see those things. If Kenshin and his childhood were her key to getting out of this place, she was not going to feed either one of them any more advantage than necessary. She leapt to her feet and picked up both the blades. She scowled at him, "What's the matter Battousai? Still trying to glean secrets from me? Which one do you want? My deepest regret? Take it, then, I'm not the hiding sort."

  
  


It looked to Kenshin like a black bolt shot across the space to hit him in the forehead, and he staggered forward onto his knees as he saw the image drawing to life.

  
  


******

It was a room, vast and wide, lit by many open flames. He looked back to see other Kami, maybe four of them, getting back to their feet. He realized he was in the Lightseeker's mind as it had been on this day. The room was filled with horrid monsters, Oni, they had to be. In the center of them was a kami, who rallied the oni to flight. He felt the rage inside her at the profanity of the act. There was a horrible feeling of betrayal and hatred. He felt the strength roiling within him. He crawled up and crouched onto the ledge of the opening, and could feel his brain calculating the distances between him and the betrayer.

  
  


He knew that with his strength, he could push out from the wall and have enough momentum going to not lose much altitude when he opened his wings. A couple of solid flaps, and a turning down of the fronts to account for the slight decline between him and the target, and he could interrupt her and knock her prone. 

  
  


Thought became action, and the ground was rushing beneath him as he focused in on his target. She looked at him in surprise, throwing her hands up defensively a breath before the two collided. He wrapped his arms around her and brought her down hard on the ground. The two tumbled and he found himself on top of her, knees pressed into her shoulders, the blade, one of those twin blades, laid across her bare throat.

  
  


"I surrender," the betrayer said, her voice flat and meaningless, "Take me to the authorities."

  
  


He felt the rage inside him, a roiling mess of unadulterated anger and hatred, "How could you." He heard the Lightseeker's voice say. It was not a question.

  
  


"I surrender." 

  
  


"I don't believe you." Kenshin felt the hatred, an all-consuming kind of thing. He genuinely didn't believe the Kami pinned beneath him, but the emotion was overriding the logic.

  
  


Before he could comprehend what was happening, he saw the steel of the blade slide across the throat, and a spray of blood stung his eyes. He rolled away, leaving the lifeless body of the kami behind him as he tumbled down.

  
  


Then he felt it. The ripping. There was a rending inside that tore his heart into pieces. He felt the ripping pain in his back as his wings fell away, and he was struck to his knees in sorrow for the abandonment he felt. He had been asked for quarter, and he had denied. 

  
  


It was the sin that was the regret, not the death. Somehow, he understood the death, the change it would bring. It was the sin he was not prepared for, that the Lightseeker had not been prepared for. She had angered her creator, and his wrath had torn her apart in pain and grief for his separation from her.

  
  


Kenshin felt the pull from this scene of grief and loss, and blinked his eyes as he turned around into the light.

  
  


******

  
  


He rolled over onto a side, the throbbing in his head dulling out. He squinted through glaring moonlight to see a shape coming up the garden path. 

  
  


He blinked some more of the pain away and when he opened his eyes, he was staring at a bare foot. The foot led to a bare ankle, which led to a bare shin, which led to the realization that he was lying on the ground.

  
  


Kenshin rolled onto his back and looked up into the face of the kami, "Do you feel that regret now?"

  
  


She shook her head, wet tendrils of black dripping cold river water into his face, "No. I feel cold and wet now. Do you trust me?"

  
  


Kenshin thought it over. She hadn't actually tried to hurt anyone deliberately. When she had acted, it had been out of fear and pain. He sat up slowly and held a hand out to her, "Help me up, please."

  
  


She gripped his hand firmly, and pulled him to his feet. He saw that she was wearing a long cloak and not much else, the satchel and her clothes were in her hand. He had never been this close to her physically, and he looked up into her face. Her eyes spoke volumes, though the link between them did not.

  
  


"If you are going to trust me, you have to do it blind," she whispered. 

  
  


"Are you going to trust me?" Kenshin whispered in reply.

  
  


She blinked slowly, thinking. "My choices in that are few. If I don't trust you, I wander this world in the hopes that a new answer will present itself. I will not understand anyone who speaks to me, nor will anyone understand me. If my wing doesn't heal properly, I will not only no longer be able to fly, but will probably be kidnaped and put in a circus freak show as some sort of fallen angel."

  
  


She touched the scar on his cheek, and his first impulse was to recoil, but her eyes stopped him, "If I do trust you. I can help you as you help me. I will know companionship. And my wing is more likely to heal with proper care. Kenshin, all scars fade with time," She turned his jaw a little to see the cross-shaped scar better, "I only regret that you can't live long enough to see these fade away to nothing."

  
  


She leaned in and kissed the scar gently. Kenshin felt the warmth of her breath and the brush of her eyelashes against his cheek. He almost jumped away, but realized that it wasn't an amorous kiss. It was almost motherly in its tenderness.

  
  


"I trust you Kenshin Himura."

  
  


He looked at her again, a mixture of surprise and relief in his eyes, "Then I trust you Hikari." He used Japanese word for her name slowly, so that she could learn to pronounce it.

  
  


She tried it, "Hi-ka-ri. I like it. What does it mean?"

  
  


"Light," Kenshin replied. "If we have to explain who our visitor is, I will tell them that our friend Hikari Sogasu has arrived for a visit."

  
  


Hikari, nodded in approval, "I like that. Can we sleep now? I'm very tired and very much in pain and very much not able to stand up for much longer."

  
  


Kenshin nodded and offered his hand, "I think I can explain this to Miss Kaoru and Sano and Yahiko."

She shook her head, "I said I trust you. Not them. I'll find a tree or a mossy spot or something. But I won't risk anyone killing me in my sleep."

  
  


"I'll protect you," he said. It was a strange thought to him. The idea of protecting a kami, one that might be trying to trick him for revenge for something, someone else... Despite his nagging doubts, he couldn't look at her and believe that. There was an air of rightness to her, her supreme confidence had been shaken, but she seemed to find comfort in her actions. "If you like, you can sit up with me while I explain, but you have to keep quiet. It's very hard for me to talk to them, listen to you, and have you thinking so loudly in my head all at once. You can speak if you need to, but think carefully. My mind isn't like yours, and its hard for me to comprehend everything you say."

  
  


Hikari cocked her head at him, "I didn't think about it like that. I'm sorry. I will sit with you and help answer questions." It was a strange thought sequence to her as well. The idea of submitting to a human, surrendering to him when his mind wasn't strong enough to communicate with her in the way of things divinely joined, still, she was wounded, and this Kenshin was her connection point. Whatever it takes.

  
  


She stuck her hand from the cloak and took his, letting him lead her back to the building. It would soon be too late for sensible sleep, but no one would be able to sleep with the discord she had caused. She freed her hand from his as they walked, and fished the toga like dress from her satchel. She threw the cloak over Kenshin's head, "Hold this."

  
  


She shrugged the short dress over her head, it's open back accommodating around her wounded wing. She pulled the cloak from Kenshin's shoulder, and dropped her things into it, balling it up to make it easier to carry. She then reached ahead of her and took his hand again, "Lead on, mighty warrior." 

  
  


Kenshin raised a brow. He had never heard of someone dressing or undressing as openly as she did. She must truly not care about social propriety. Then again, she had dressed before going into the house. He nodded, realizing that she cared less about his discomfort than the discomfort of the people they were going to see. 

  
  


When they made it into the house, Kenshin kneeled on the tatami in front of Kaoru, Sanosuke, and Yahiko. Hikari the kami sat down unceremoniously, crossing her legs in a sort of relaxed lotus position.

  
  


He bowed and said to them, "I think we have come to an understanding." The trio looked at the kami suspiciously, eyeing her up and down. She looked at the tatami, then closed her eyes, to better listen to Kenshin.

  
  


"The Kami is named Hikari Sogasu, the Seeker of Light. She is not here of her own will, but of someone else's and is trapped for time being. She told me that she didn't mean to scare anyone and is usually a very careful person. She says that she is sorry to have frightened you or led you to believe that she meant any harm," Kenshin spoke gently, his voice seemed to soothe the mood of the room.

  
  


"Miss Megumi was mistaken. Hikari-dono is a guardian spirit, protecting warriors from the influences of bad spirits. In the course of a great battle, a dark priest sent her away, and she landed here. The reason I can understand her is because I was the first person she saw, and she did not want to start another fight. She respectfully asks Kaoru-dono for her hospitality until she is healed and can go home."

  
  


Kaoru watched the kami, "That sounds very convenient for her. Are you sure she isn't lying? She could be taking advantage of you."

  
  


Hikari could only feel the suspicion that Kenshin detected, she pulled back further, staying quiet. Then she felt his attention focused on her, and she looked up. Whatever humility there was, it was not in her eyes. She spoke, holding back the floodgates of empathic emotions and imagery that were instinct to her.

  
  


Sano listened to the kami, her voice was soft, and truly sounded like some distant musical instrument. She had a singsong quality to her voice that was soothing and lively. She spoke to Kenshin, and he seemed to understand her. He seemed relaxed around her, which was strange for him. 

  
  


"Beside the fact that we've agreed to trust each other, Hikari says that even if she were here to hurt anyone, she can't hurt anyone in a house that offers her its hospitality. So logically, if we help the Kami, it can't hurt anyone." Kenshin's left eye snapped shut briefly, winking at Hikari. He brushed at his face, but saw that she had seen it, and she nodded at the trio.

  
  


Kaoru shook her head, "How am I supposed to feed you three, myself and a kami? What do Kami eat anyway?"

  
  


Hikari smiled, feeling the relief in Kenshin's mind as he asked her the question. "Hikari-dono, what do kami eat? And can you help to ease Kaoru's mind about taking in another wanderer?"

  
  


Hikari's gentle smile warmed him, and she couldn't resist letting him feel the warmth in her reply, "Kami eat things that taste good. Also, I would think that a kami would never leave herself indebted to a hostess. Assure Kaoru that not only am I an excellent fisher, but the good fortune that will be visited on her house will bring her much luck."

  
  


Kenshin chuckled, the warmth of her mental embrace relaxing him further, he smiled at Kaoru and said, "The kami says to not worry. She would not leave herself in your debt. She also says that kami eat things that taste good."

  
  


Yahiko, unable to resist, the Kami's chi spreading a warmth through the room, looked at her with very serious brown eyes. He blinked at her and said, "Then get out of here while you can. Nothing Kaoru makes tastes good."

  
  


Hikari couldn't understand him and only blinked at him in reply. Kenshin looked back at her, a look of happy helplessness on his face as Kaoru rose up from behind Yahiko and popped him in the head with an open hand. The strike at the child, and Hikari's lack of understanding, caused her to draw Yahiko up in her arms protectively, and glare at Kaoru.

  
  


The action didn't help Yahiko at all, who nestled happily into the protective embrace and stuck his tongue out at Kaoru. Kaoru railed back to hit Yahiko again, only to feel the steely grip of fingers around her wrist. The Kami had reached out and grabbed Kaoru's wrist to keep her from hitting Yahiko.

  
  


Kaoru pulled away, knowing that the kami had released her voluntarily, a little surprised at the strength. Kenshin laughed and waved his hand to get Kaoru's attention, "I told you it was a guardian spirit. She won't let anyone get hurt."

  
  


Hikari rubbed the back of Yahiko's head, and finding no lump, pushed him out of her lap. "Tell him that I may be protective, but sometimes he has to fight his own battles."

  
  


Kenshin relayed the message, and Yahiko, realizing what it meant, took off out of the room, Kaoru hot on his heels.

  
  


Sano still leaned against the wall, studying the kami. He was turning a smooth metal disk over in his hand. He held it up in two fingers for the kami to see its sharp edges. "If she's some kind of protector, why did she try to take someone's head with this?"

  
  


Kenshin looked at the disk, "What is that?"

  
  


Sano flipped it like a large coin, "You stopped this from hitting Yahiko or Kaoru earlier tonight."

Hikari recognized it right away and fished her bracer out of her cloak. She held it up to Sano, splaying it open so that he could see the row of disks inside and the slit in the top. He looked at the set up. "Not bad. She's got a trick up her sleeve, literally." He reached for it and she handed it to him. He turned it over in his hands, looking at the designs and engraving on the outside. He turned it back over to her, "You'll have to show me how it works sometime."

  
  


The act of her baring that secret was enough to convince Sano that she was at least being sincere. She looked over at Kenshin who was scratching the back of his head. She said something, sounding expectant. Kenshin repeated what Sano had said.

  
  


She looked at Sano, and Sano realized this was the first time he had ever looked her in the eye. She stood up, comfortably taller than he, and smiled at him. She took the bracer from him and took a lock of his dark hair in her hand and tugged at it gently.

  
  


She then looked imploringly at Kenshin, who just in that moment, she realized was an attractive young man. "Sleep now?"

  
  


A short exchange explained that she still wanted him to stay in the same room with her. She still didn't trust everyone yet, and that the problem would fix itself in time.

  
  


Kenshin agreed, if for no other reason, than to get some much needed sleep, and led the way to his room.

  
  


He rolled out the futon for her, and found some extra covers in case she got cold. "You question my manners and civility and you people sleep on the floor." she mumbled. She extracted her swords and other belongings from her cloak and laid them out carefully. She then blew out the lantern, "Sleep well Kenshin Himura. Thank you for everything."

  
  


She watched him settle into his spot near the door, sword resting on his shoulder. She slipped out of the dress and under the covers, shutting her eyes in the hopes that this had not been taken from her as well.

  
  


Kenshin opened his eyes sleepily, looking over at the kami asleep on the futon. He blinked a couple of times and then shook his head. She didn't wear anything to sleep in. She slept on her stomach, head cradled in her folded arms. The moonlight limned the soft curve of her back down to the top of the covers, which only half-covered the swell of her hips. He could see the outside curve of a breast, bathed in the shadows of her body. Painfully beautiful hadn't been the word for it. He was truly unworthy.

  
  


He walked over to pull the covers up a bit, and couldn't resist the urge. He knelt beside her as she slept and ever so gently touched the wing that wasn't hurt. It was soft like a cloud and warm. He turned his hand, catching a couple of downy feathers on his fingertips. They were blood red, and molded over the ends of his fingers. He leaned in closer, to see where the wing connected with her body. There, the feathers faded and thinned and gave way to skin. He touched there, and felt her stir. The feathers there where ghostly and thin. He followed the line from her shoulder blade into the wing, feeling the feathers develop under his fingertips.

  
  


Then he looked at her ear, for the first time seeing it clearly, not hidden in her hair. It was not just a little pointed. The tip swept up and back toward the crown of her skull. In the moonlight, her skin looked translucent with a pearly glow. He leaned even further forward to see her face in the moonlight. As he strained over her, her face changed into a smile and she blinked at him.

  
  


He yelped and slipped on his hands, landing across her back. She yelped in pain, and bit into the futon hard to keep from screaming. Kenshin corrected himself quickly and apologized desperately.

  
  


Her eyes turned bright trying to withhold the tears. She blinked them back, breathing through her nose heavily, still biting down on the futon. He reached out to touch her shoulder, "Hikari-dono. Please forgive me, I didn't mean to hurt you."

  
  


She looked at him and forced the pain down. She released to futon to tell him, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have scared you. It's my fault not yours." She sat up and saw the pain and regret in his expression. She opened an arm to him, "Come here..what do you call yourself, Sessha? What does that mean?" 

  
  


He couldn't argue with her warmth, and soon found himself nestled in her embrace. His head rested in the span between the hollow of her collarbone and the swell of her breast. If he had thought about it, he felt nothing but safe where he was. He was protected and warm and surrounded by love. He wrapped his arms around a narrow waist and closed his eyes. He sighed into the flesh, which smelled not of flowers or things feminine, but like a distant orchard in a rainstorm. She smelled of earth and air and water and warmth. This primal motherhood, this supreme sense of comfort and safety was totally new to him. He closed his eyes and for just that instant, he knew why Hikari's heart had been broken.

  
  


She felt the tear slip down her chest, but ignored its tickling as she held him close to her. She stroked his hair, red like sunsets, poppies, things molten and smoldering. She touched his face lightly and buried her nose in the top of his head. He smelled faintly of sandalwood and sweat and water. She clasped him to her, letting him know what it was to be protected. Just once. It would be just as painful, she thought, to be separate from this one as it is from the other.

  
  


Slowly and gently, she pushed open the link between them, letting him say what he wanted and feel what he wanted. His closed eyes led him into sleep, deeper and quieter than he had ever known, and her past became his dream world. Here he flew and played and hunted and fished and lived fully and completely in the comfort and safety she had always known.

  
  


Eventually, she closed her eyes and slept, resting her head on top of his and breathing in his hair.

  
  


*********

  
  


The light in the room woke Kenshin with a start. He found himself entangled in the futon and covers, though he didn't remember lying down. He was alone, and briefly he wondered if last night had all been a dream.

  
  


He disengaged himself from the covers and saw that last night had not been a dream. Hikari's belongings were still carefully laid out near an interior wall. Kenshin cleaned up as best he could, smiling to himself as he did so. He felt so very awake and rested. The smell of something cooking led him to the door, and there on the porch sat Kaoru, Sano and Yahiko eating breakfast.

  
  


"Kenshin!" Kaoru waved at him, her smile was bright and cheery. As he walked over he saw a fourth tray had been set out.

  
  


"They were sitting out here when we woke up. I wonder where they came from?" Kaoru scooted over to make room for Kenshin who sat down next to a steaming bowl of rice with fish mixed in it, a slice of bread or cake brimming with fruits and nuts, and a tea cup filled with cold well water.

  
  


"Well, Miss Kaoru. Hikari-dono promised you good fortune." Kenshin picked up his chopsticks and tasted the food, which was good. Not professional chef quality by any means, but certainly edible and made with great care and consideration.

  
  


"Where is the kami?" Sano asked around a mouth full of food. He craned his neck around the corner and shrugged.

  
  


Yahiko swallowed, "Wherever she is, she's not a bad cook. Maybe we should keep her Kaoru? It would give Kenshin a break."

  
  


Kaoru's hand swung back out of habit more than anything. Kenshin tapped her on the wrist, "Miss Kaoru. Remember what happened the last time you hit him."

  
  


Yahiko stuck his tongue out in glee. Sano kicked at him, "And don't you forget what happened to you when you got yourself in trouble last either."

  
  


Both heads bowed in humility and went back to eating their breakfast. Kaoru mumbled, "Besides, who said the kami cooked anything? Who ever heard of such a thing? She probably just summoned it up or enslaved someone to do it for her or something."

  
  


Kenshin frowned at the resentment in Kaoru's voice, "Miss Kaoru. This is certainly nothing to be jealous of. We've all had better meals at the Akabeko. I'm sure this is just her attempt to thank you for your hospitality."

  
  


"Is that so?" He heard from behind him. The singsong was cheerful, but accusing, "I could only prepare what I was given to work with; and I still had to go out for the fish."

  
  


Kaoru, Sano, and Yahiko all looked up at Hikari, who was looking down at Kenshin from behind. Her wing was bound tightly against her back, and she wore a long white shirt over her black pants. The large shirt was accommodating for her form, and she almost looked normal. There was a bucket hanging from her fingers, from which stuck out even more fish, and a basket on her shoulder held other foodstuffs.

  
  


"Have you been to the market?" Kaoru asked. Kenshin translated for her.

  
  


Hikari shook her head, "The world provides, if only you know where to look. I found some mushrooms, and some okra," she set the basket down and began rifling through it, "Potatoes, onions, a few carrots that had gone stray from a garden, and oh! Something just for us girls."

  
  


Kenshin struggled to keep up with her as he translated for Kaoru and was as surprised as everyone else when the Kami produced a small cloth pouch and placed it in Kaoru's lap. When she opened the pouch, four round ripe plums tumbled around in her lap. 

  
  


"An older man was kind enough to give them to me after I helped him put a wheel on his cart."

  
  


Kenshin didn't interpret, "Someone saw you?"

  
  


She nodded pleasantly, "His name was Mr. Nishihaba. He has a small farm well outside of town. He said that he's grateful that I was only there to help him, and not to take his spirit away. He paid me in plums. Which I thought a fine trade for a hard morning's work. I kissed him on the cheek and told him that he would make it home just fine today, with no further interference from Oni who split wheel pins."

  
  


Kenshin shook his head, "You need to be careful."

  
  


Kaoru poked Kenshin with her chopstick, "What is she saying? Who saw her?"

Kenshin relayed the story in short time, "A man broke a cart wheel outside the dojo and Hikari-dono stopped to help. That's how she got the plums."

  
  


Kaoru looked up and over her shoulder, "As long as she didn't steal them."

  
  


Kenshin didn't have to translate. Kaoru's tone said quite enough, and Hikari stiffened. Kenshin looked at Hikari imploring her not to react. Hikari sat down crosslegged with a thud and looked hard at Kaoru's back., she said very quietly, "I find it very hard to believe that she can be so rude just because she thinks I can't understand her."

  
  


Kenshin blinked. That's right…how had she known what the old man with the cart had said? "You speak Japanese now?"

  
  


"Badly," Hikari said. "I learned a little last night while you were sleeping. I can apologize for my ignorance of Japanese, and I can pick up a few words. Mostly it comes from tone though. I'll teach you about that later. How it doesn't mater what language you speak, tone is universal. And the contempt in her voice always seems to appear when I'm there and she's saying something she wouldn't say if I could understand her. I can tell because of the way you and the other two will look at her when she sounds like that."

  
  


Kaoru had stiffened when she heard Kenshin's question to the kami. She hid her relief when Kenshin turned to her said, "You are fortunate that Hikari has not learned enough Japanese to understand what you say. But she does understand how you say it. You cut at her feelings instead of thanking her for her generosity, and I know you to be a much more gracious person than that Miss Kaoru, that I do."

  
  


Kaoru again hung her head under Kenshin's gentle reprimand. She saw a long slender hand reach around her hip to pick up the tray left beside her. Yahiko handed his tray off, and Sano pushed his tray behind Kaoru. Kenshin handed his tray to the kami behind her and said, "Thank you very much for the lovely breakfast. And as I see you've done the fishing for today, I guess that means I'll have to actually work around here and do some laundry."

  
  


"You're welcome," Hikari said, balancing the trays on the basket and hoisting those with one hand while she lifted the bucket of fish with the other. "Kenshin, would you please tell her that I would like to see the doctor today. I need my bandage changed and I need instructions on how to deal with this. I've never broken one of these before, and I didn't realize how inconvenient it was."

Kenshin nodded and translated for Kaoru. 

  
  


Kaoru nodded quietly, "I'll bring her back with me when I get back from town."

  
  


Kenshin translated for Hikari, who said, "Tell her thank you."

  
  


Most mornings were like that. For several weeks. Hikari would apparently do a day's work by the time everyone else was dressed, and would then retire. She and Kaoru would exchange some tense tones, then Kaoru would leave and Hikari would retire to rest. Her wound prevented her from doing very much, and she didn't want to risk any trouble being seen in the daylight.

  
  


After a couple of weeks, Hikari would stay out most of the day helping around the Dojo after Kaoru left to give lessons. Hikari was found to enjoy the domestics of daily life and helped Kenshin with the laundry, making a grand watery mess of herself, but having the best time doing it. She didn't tell anyone to do anything, she asked, and if someone said no, she shrugged with a smile and did it herself. Kaoru would be coming back to piles of fresh laundry, a well-cleaned dojo, and a hot meal. 

  
  


Kenshin couldn't help but think of how adorable Hikari looked with her hair tied back in a kerchief wearing a pair of hakama she had borrowed from one of the old student lockers, and her big flouncy western shirt, sleeves rolled up past her elbows.

  
  


Getting her into the Hakama had been funny. After figuring out that you have to tie the waist of the hakama into place, she tangled herself up in the cords trying to tie them on. Then she wrapped them improperly, so they kept falling down around her ankles. Finally, Kenshin had taken pity on her and help her into them properly.

  
  


"These aren't too uncomfortable once you figure them out," Hikari said proudly. She took a step forward and caught her foot in the front of the hakama and took a rather undignified spill onto her face.

  
  


"For a kami, you sure do have Western manners," Kenshin remarked, helping her to her feet.

  
  


"Of course I do," she said. "I fill a lot of Western ideas of what a spirit is because I was Western in times ancient and forgotten. I'm both progressive and regressive at once. By Western standards, I'm a huge throwback to days of superstition and smoke, not the highly practical today of starched collars and steam engines. By Japanese standards, I'm very progressive, playing on those legends of European lore and seeming very new."

  
  


Kenshin looked at her, utterly confused.

  
  


She picked up the laundry and took smaller steps to keep from tripping herself again, "Ages past, in days when shadows held magic and good and evil were embodied by different creatures, angels and demons, spirits of the forest and seas, I thrived with the rest of them in the west. As long as belief held true in us, we could hold true to the world and continue in our otherworldly battles of good versus evil. Eventually, someone decided that all spirits were evil, and that any otherworldly battling should be done by people. It was hard for us to find ourselves shut off like that. We thrive on our base emotions, love or hate, violence or creation, which explains our need for empathy. Or, why I keep getting into your head."

  
  


She dropped the laundry near the wash basin and sat down. Kenshin listened, enjoying the sound of her voice as he started to work.

  
  


"So here we are, shut off from almost everyone, and people we weren't shut off from we had a tendency to drive insane for trying to foster them. It was getting pretty bad. One day, someone hears a call, way out past the Dawnspire, which marked the boundaries of our world. So we started answering. The nature spirits were growing old here, and were no longer interested in helping mankind. So we took over, sort of. We do the dirty work, while homage is paid to the familiar spirits. But we don't need recognition to survive, just a sense of being. Which explains the West meets East."

  
  


She passed clothes off to Kenshin and hung up the wet laundry on poles since she was taller and could reach higher. He watched her stretch her arm over her head, creating an incredibly long lean line.

  
  


"So Hikari-kami," deciding the kami as a suffix was a perfectly acceptable honorific, "Why can't you speak to anyone but me?"

  
  


"The gift mostly. But also, I can make myself understood just fine, if my wings are in tact. Since one is broken, I can't disguise myself or speak any language I want or use any of my divine gifts. The gift is between you and I. I lets me feel you and lets you feel me. It's a sort of taste of the divine for you. I'm glad it was you. I don't have to sense people's intentions and feelings to read the other girl or the boy. The other girl is jealous of me, because of you, I think. The boy has things on his mind that even I would be embarrassed to mention. The little boy might be fun, but I'm an old spirit now and don't have the energy to play with children like I used to. I love them dearly, I just can't keep up anymore."

  
  


Kenshin blinked, "Miss Kaoru is very territorial. You are in her house. She doesn't want to be outshone by you. This is her house. She should be in charge."

  
  


"Especially of you," Hikari said, turning around to face him.

  
  


"I don't know about that," Kenshin said, shrugging and scrubbing.

  
  


"You make your choices Kenshin Himura. I'm not here to order you around. I can't tell you what you should or should not do, especially in matters of the heart. I can tell you that doing nothing is not going to do anyone any good."

  
  


"Hikari-kami, in Japan, it is impolite to be so forward."

  
  


"Kenshin-sama," Hikari put the higher honorific behind his name, drawing his attention upward in surprise, "The trees do not bow for your passing. Neither will I." The musical quality of her voice sounded positively primal. The cadence beat out a deep rhythm in his heart. He could only smile at the pride that filled him.

  
  


He flattened his, sounding more serious, and for that moment, sounding very much his age, "Hikari-kami, I wouldn't dare to presume such a thing. I was just pointing out my discomfort with the direction the conversation was taking."

  
  


She strung the clothes on the pole, "Maybe your friend with the dark hair will be more amusing?." Her head was tilted downward and her eyes peered at him through her lashes, taking on a particularly wicked gleam. 

  
  


Kenshin looked at her, both horrified and fascinated. She sounded playful, but wicked playful, as if she wanted to do something bad because it was fun. She continued to string up clothes as if she had said nothing, stretching yet again to hang the last pole. One leg lifted from the ground, the other stretched positively to the very tips of her toes. The Hakama rode up to her ankles in the motion, and he could imagine the tightly trained muscles in there straining to keep her balance. She turned her hand out and balanced the pole on the very tips of her fingers, finally jumping a touch to get the pole in place.

  
  


"I could have gotten the hook for that Hikari-kami," Kenshin said, brushing the dust from his hakama.

  
  


"So?" She wheeled on him suddenly, causing him to take a step back. She leaned in frighteningly close to him, and he could feel her breath, against his face. "I could kiss you now," she whispered.

  
  


Then she was gone. Kenshin spun around to see her dashing off toward the dojo where Sano was sitting on the porch, leaning back against the wall. She leapt up beside him, and spoke to him, "Come dust a floor with me. It'll be fun!"

  
  


Sano looked at her, pleasantly helpless, as he still couldn't understand her. Kenshin eventually walked up and said, "She asked you to dust floors with her."

  
  


Hikari grabbed Sano's wrist and pulled him to his feet. He staggered, surprised by how strong she was. "Hey there missy! Let's not get to happy about working."

  
  


Kenshin shrugged at Hikari, and said to Sano, "It's not dusting floors that she says will be fun Sano. I'd run now before she makes you regret the day you became a man." Sano spun his head to look at his friend, who only looked at his feet, his shaggy red mane hiding his face, and his smile.

  
  


The kami made things seem lighter, easier. He felt as though he could lift a carriage if he had to, because she would be there to help. She had been only partially right about Kaoru. He'd spent most of his days unsure of what they should be doing, and Kaoru wasn't helping. He cared for her very much, but their connection had only been brief, and purely coincidental. He preferred not to tip the pot to see what was inside, in case it all came spilling out on him.

  
  


Hikari was being such a friend. She spoke and moved with familiarity and comfort. She loved openly and was honest to a fault. She loves this world, and that same unbounded love shows in everything she does. Kaoru doesn't have that. She's still so much of a child. 

  
  


Kenshin sighed and went to get his fishing pole. He never caught anything anyway, so it wouldn't matter. 

  
  


Hikari grabbed Sano by the collar and put her face close to his. He could see the laughter in her eyes the instant before she planted a kiss on his forehead. The room she took him to had no tatami on the floor, just smooth polished wood. She took a running start into the room, and skid on her tabi across the floor. Her hair streaked out behind her in windblown ribbons and when she squealed and laughed, it was the happiest sound Sano could have imagined.

  
  


He followed suit, losing his balance and falling on his backside. She laughed at him, but it didn't hurt his feelings and she offered him a hand up. He held out his hand, then switched quickly, realizing that with her strength, she might hurt his hand again, like Shishio had. She saw this and instead grabbed his wrist, pulling him to his feet. Before he could run out for another try, she grabbed his injured hand, and kissed it gently. She looked at him and somehow he knew that as long as she was around, nothing like that would ever happen.

  
  


They continued to play on the slick floor, skidding around in their socks until they were completely disheveled and covered in dust bunnies. Sano got pretty good at it after a couple of tries, and didn't notice when the kami left the room, he was having so much fun.

  
  


She found Yahiko struggling at the well, trying to get water for the bath. She snuck up behind him and covered his eyes. He yelped and dropped the rope, swing for whoever had him. When his punch connected, the kami hit the ground, rubbing her jaw as if he had struck a serious blow. He put his hands on his hips and said, "Serves you right, sneaking up on me when I have to get all these stupid chores done before Kaoru gets home."

  
  


Hikari stood and hoisted two buckets, she began to walk to the bathhouse with them. She was back a few minutes later, and as Yahiko filled the buckets, she sighed and tapped her foot at him, looking impatient.

  
  


"Oh yeah?" he said, "Better watch what you ask for, you just might get it." He pulled harder and faster, trying to keep up with the pace the kami set. She would run buckets to the bathhouse and two full ones would be waiting for her. Yahiko eventually forgot the monotony of his task and concentrated only on beating the kami at the game they were playing. The time flew past, and the chore was done, leaving Yahiko and Hikari breathless and staring at each other. She smiled and winked at him, and he grinned broadly at her.

  
  


She waved him off to go have some fun while she went wandering again. She found a shady spot and fished a plum from her sleeve.

  
  


She could see the love some kami have of the material. It could be a beautiful place, and laughter and joy are priceless gifts that heal wounds. She felt the happiness of the day knitting her bone together, easing the pain of her fall from grace. She smiled in contentment and bit into the plum.

Kenshin was such a strange little man; it made him fascinating. He carried around so much sadness, but wanted so much happiness, and was completely capable of it. It made her sad to think of what she would have to do to get back to her world.

  
  


He was so beautiful, and could be so fulfilling as a companion. She liked his hair, it made her think wicked things. His eyes were so expressive you couldn't possibly believe that they were masking anything, but he was always masking something. He seemed one thing and was another. How utterly dishonest. How delightfully appealing.

  
  


It was going to be hard getting home. He was a skilled warrior, it took fast hands to bat her disc out of the sky like that. She had seen some of his battles in his mind, and he moved like wind, touching your cheek only after he had already passed you. She would have to get accustomed to his fighting style in order to defeat him. She looked down at the pit of the plum, and tossed it away. She would have to kill him; and his blood would set her free.

  
  


Those were the conditions of her being bound here. Something had used her name, her real name, the name she had carried in Eire as a Sidhe and in Alfheim as one of the great warrior elves. It gave her the terms and bound her to the earth. Lying to Kenshin, who had been so kind to her was hard, but if she couldn't explain how she got here to herself, how would she ever be able to explain it to him?

  
  


"His hearts blood mixed with water and poured over stone will open the gate to send you home."

  
  


Dammit. She wasn't some hitman for mortals. She was the hand of divine justice, the actor of divine will. He thought, she acted, and justice was done. That was it, end of story. Stupid stupid men.

  
  


"Hitokiri Battousai hides behind a false face, he has killed cruelly and heartlessly. He took my son from me, and now I will make him suffer. You will deliver his life into the great cycle, and free him from his mortal coil. His hearts blood mixed with water and poured over stone will finish your task and send you home."

  
  


She ground her teeth to mask her fury. If she could, she would rip his heart out and see how close to home it brought her. Stupid men doing stupid things. Jackasses full of pride and hubris calling on things they cannot comprehend or imagine. 

  
  


Why him? Why did he have to be so nice? It would violate every tenet of her being to kill that fox-furred creature. He had so far to go, and such a willingness to get there. She shook her head in frustration. I could love him, as much as the Divine Will, but in a different way. He would be my child, my joy to watch as he grew and developed and lived his life. And when he died, because all men must die, I would guide his spirit in service beside me, and show him the love of the Divine Will. 

  
  


The face wasn't false, the act that called down such a wrath on his was. She knew Justice. Hell, she was Justice. She knew that it would be unjust to kill Kenshin. 

  
  


She toyed with the waist cords of the hakama she wore, sighing helplessly. She was Justice. And Justice knows that the truth shall set you free. There had to be way around this. Stupid men word their requests in stupid ways. There had to be something in the wording.

  
  


She got up and headed for the dojo. She couldn't think like this. She wanted to act, so she must be acting. Kinetic thought only comes with a kinetic body. She moved into Kenshin's room and found her swords. Justice was divinely swift, strengthened by righteousness. Justice is the guardian of the weak, protector of the small.

  
  


She walked outside and found an open area where she could move. She mentally talked herself into a cadence, a rhythm that was soon followed by her body. 

  
  


Justice breaks down walls and opens doors.

  
  


Justice is the gateway to freedom.

  
  


Justice rides on the wings of death, and strikes with the blade of revenge.

  
  


Death brings change, know the change you bring with the death you cause.

  
  


Life is an exercise of free will, so too, is death. The criminal punished by death chose his fate. He dies freely, and has paid his debt with his blood.

  
  


As the thoughts strung together in more complicated ways, her movements became faster. She was a whirlwind of blades and feet and death and song. The rhythm was insanely quick, one sword moving out of the way for another, one blocking, one striking, both striking, both blocking. Everything moved naturally and eventually the rhythm of her thoughts was gone, replaced by the rhythm of her body. Her heartbeat took over her head, pounding its ever-quickening rhythm in her ears. 

  
  


Kenshin finished preparing dinner and went to find Hikari. Sano had emerged disheveled and dust covered, but no worse for the wear, and seemed to genuinely like Hikari. Yahiko's chores had been done quickly, and Sano even swore that he had done them all himself. The kami only held a bucket for him sometimes.

  
  


He went to find Hikari, wondering where she had wandered off to. Kaoru would be home soon with Megumi, and Hikari needed to get her wing in a fresh bandage.

  
  


A whirring sound caught his attention, and he stopped, narrowing his eyes as he heard the sound of steel in motion. He picked up his sword as he passed his room, following the sound. When he rounded the corner, he saw Hikari in motion, her whole body moved in careful timing with the two swords. She had to be very good at what she was doing to avoid hurting herself; and at the speed she was moving, she could cut off a limb. She was beautiful in the sunset, limned out in orange light, a whir of steel and feathers and hair. He could smell her sweat and saw her legs in motion. She had discarded the hakama, and moved in her own way. Her body moved so quickly and so easily.

  
  


Kenshin had to try. He closed the distance between them, and chose a moment to connect with one of her blades.

  
  


The clang didn't surprise her, she just slowed down and faced him fully, "Dance with me," she said.

  
  


He tried to match her, and she gently guided him where to go. Thrust, parry, duck, spin, lock, close, strike, counterstrike. Eventually he felt it. She moved in a rhythm, without thought or strategy, she just existed. He understood. He would have lost to her in battle. There were no emotions to read, no way to predict, unless you knew the rhythm. She did not feel or think or analyze. She moved with the rhythm, she made a song with her blades, and whatever it was fell in front of her. They moved in closer, and struck faster, each meeting the other as they began to match rhythms. He began to feel the song inside him, and the two moved together in synchronism, the sunset was their harmony, and their hearts were the percussion of their dance.

  
  


He watched her eyes, distant and calm, defy the flurry of blades inches from her face. He tried to relax like she did, but almost lost step with her.

  
  


She loved his eyes, they narrowed in concentration as she set the pace for them. They watched her and met her with impunity. She saw the killer. She could do it now. She was in control of the rhythm. One change, and his heart would be still beating in her hand. She could do it. She was eye to eye with the killer. 

  
  


But why rush things? She slowed the rhythm, letting him match pace with her and closed in on him further. They were very close now, the steam rose from their bodies in the cool night air as they slowed and then stopped, locked blade against blade against blade. They breathed into each others faces, their shoulders heaved, their eyes locked in this deadly embrace.

  
  


To ask either one of them who started it, they would both point at the other, but somewhere in that stare, their foreheads were only inches apart, and a slight tilt of the head, a shift in position, and they met at the lips. Just briefly, but wantonly. More was conveyed in that kiss between two people than in hours of talking or years of marriage.

  
  


They would each claim that they were the one to break the kiss. But when each saw the other, they knew they had been happier before they had been separated. 

  
  


"Dinner's ready, Hikari-kami. Kaoru will be here soon with Miss Megumi." He broke the silence first, his voice husky and breathy. She had pushed him hard, and he liked it.

  
  


She nodded at him, "I hope not too long. There is something I have to do when night falls and I can go outside."

  
  


He looked at her, the question on his lips, but her gaze told him to leave it be. He felt that she was hiding something, and now she wasn't even bothering to hide that she was hiding something. It gnawed at him and he turned from her.

  
  


"I see," he said, "Will you be late?" He put his sword into its saya, and loped it over his shoulder.

  
  


"No." her answer was flat and lifeless, as if she were still disconnected and in her sword dance. He could feel her watching him. Her gaze had a way of making the hairs on his neck stand on end and his skin crawl with apprehension and anticipation.

  
  


"Good. There is always a great deal to be done here, and I understand you have been very helpful today," he answered, slowing down so that he could walk beside her.

  
  


She shrugged, "I only helped a little. I do have to earn my keep."

  
  


Kenshin offered her his hand as they took the steps onto the porch. She ignored his offer, and left him confused. Something was bothering her. He tried again to open his mind to her, to see if she would respond. It was like meeting cold steel. He set his sword down and watched a tree outside as she changed clothes. "I don't think its very fair."

  
  


He felt her shift and stop, "What don't you think is fair, Kenshin?"

  
  


"You talked about the openness and love you have where you come from, how nothing is hidden and the truth is always laid bare and open. But this thing between you and I," he paused, turning his head to look at her in her state of half-undress, "you only let me in when its convenient for you. You don't let me see the truth, only the truth that you want me to see. It's not fair for you to belittle me about it one minute, and deny me the opportunity to know it the next."

  
  


She shook her head at him, "That's not so. This thing is different, and its hard to maintain." The lie was flimsy and she knew it. She had never been good at lying.

  
  


He saw right through her, "Then tell me what's wrong. Why are you bothered? Why won't you open yourself to me?"

  
  


She looked down, fishing out the short Roman dress that gave room for her wings. "Because you'll hate me. And I want to enjoy this just a little bit longer. Besides, I only want to tell you about it when I find a resolution for it."

  
  


Kenshin's eyes narrowed in suspicion, and he saw her cringe under his scrutiny. "Who are you really?"

  
  


She straightened the dress at her waist, "I never lied to you about that. I am a guardian. The idea and concept are complicated, though I suppose the best word for it is Justice. Though please don't call me that, it's a job, not my name."

  
  


"Justice," he repeated the word, unsure of its implications.

  
  


"Please, Kenshin, I swear to you on my own name, the one you gave me, I will explain everything to you tomorrow evening. Please, trust in me this once, and keep silent. It has been a beautiful day so far, and I would not see it ruined now. Let's got to dinner, and then you can fall asleep against me like you did last night. Let me be your guardian tonight." Her voice actually sounded pleading. 

  
  


He took a deep breath, his hesitancy making her all the more nervous. "What do I call you now?"

  
  


"Hikari." The word was still thick on her tongue, her Japanese left so very much to be desired. "I love the name. And I will wear it for eternity."

  
  


"Let's go to dinner. I imagine we are being waited upon." He walked through the room, and felt her follow him. Her steps were slow and there was a slight shuffle to them.

  
  


The room was boisterous and laughing as Sano told Kaoru about their new method of dusting the floors. Sano, Yahiko, and Kaoru sat together, and Miss Megumi was sitting beside an older man who chuckled along with the group, "Kami are spirits who thrive on new ideas, even if they have to come up with them themselves." he said.

  
  


Kenshin put his hand out behind him to stop Hikari from entering the room. He felt the air grow very still behind him. "Mis Megumi, I'm glad you came. I didn't know you would be bringing a friend along."

  
  


Megumi smiled lightly at him, "Ken, this is Isao, a priest at the shrine in Asakasa. He is well versed in the ways of Kami, since he is in the business of ensuring their blessing upon new shrines."

  
  


Kenshin bowed, "An honor to meet you. It sounds as if you have been brought up to speed as to our situation."

The old man bowed in return, "May I meet her? I am quite curious to see a kami embodied, as it doesn't happen very often."

  
  


Kenshin looked back over his shoulder at the shadow behind him, "That would be her choice. I am only her translator."

  
  


The priest's eyes grew wide and large as Hikari appeared over Kenshin's shoulder. Her eyes were narrowed at the priest, suspicious of him, and Kenshin felt her breath quicken in her nervousness. She stretched out her good wing, he could hear the rustle of feathers, to fill the doorway, trying to look as imposing as possible. She spoke, and filled her voice with the cadence of her origins.

"She asks what you want," Kenshin said, moving to sit beside Kaoru.

  
  


"I only want to meet her," the priest said, touching his forehead to the floor in front of him, "and to help her if I can."

  
  


His show of submission moved Hikari to relax and find a seat on the floor. She studied the priest as Megumi got to her feet to remove the bandage from the kami's wing.

  
  


Isao looked at Kenshin and Kaoru, "She's not Japanese, you know. That's the language of an England long forgotten, or Nordic, it's hard to tell."

  
  


Kenshin felt the link between he and Hikari open again, and she spoke to him, the link making the translations easier, "She says it is both, though Welsh would have been the best guess."

  
  


Isao nodded, "I apologize, Can you tell me how you came to be here?"

  
  


Kenshin translated again, "She says that she was called. She was forced from her home and is stuck here now."

  
  


Isao spoke again, "Do you fight the great war?"

  
  


Again, Kenshin was surprised by her answer, "She says that she does. She says that because she is the embodiment of an ideal, she is a player in the war of spirits to protect the Divine Will?"

  
  


Isao nodded, "The Divine Consciousness is thought to be both created by and the creator of all mankind. Everything that lives contributes to it, and these kami are actors of the will of that consciousness. They tend to be representations of ideals like truth and love. But what creates the divine also births the infernal. The darker sides of our nature, greed, hatred, jealousy, that ilk. they are represented by Oni, and are actors of Infernal Will."

  
  


Kaoru leaned forward, interested if skeptical, "So there is this great war of wills between good and evil, and this is one of the soldiers?"

  
  


Isao nodded, "That's right, Miss. Has she told you her name?"

  
  


Kenshin shook his head, "I named her because I couldn't understand her name. We call her Hikari Sogasu."

  
  


Isao raised a brow at Kenshin, "The Lightseeker. Interesting choice. And she accepts the name?"

  
  


Kenshin nodded. She spoke again and he translated, "She wants to know what we are saying. If you don't mind, I'll tell her."

  
  


He summed up the priest's explanation of the battle for Human Will and she confirmed it with a nod. 

  
  


"Is he asking who I am?" she whispered at Kenshin, who nodded in reply.

  
  


"Tell him I am Justice, Child of Truth, the Divine Guardian and Actor of the Divine Will. Tell him that I do not take this calling lightly, and that I will visit the house of the one who has wasted my time."

  
  


Kenshin relayed the message, and Isao sat upright, masking his fear. Kaoru looked at Hikari with disdain, and Sano and Yahiko cringed a little bit at the thunderous cadence of her message. Isao pressed his forehead down again and said, "I am sure that you will. But you must understand that it was not any rite of Shintoism that called you. Some other practitioner has called you and in his stumbling has wounded you. Please let me tend your wound and help you to find the man who would dare to call on Justice."

  
  


She cocked her head to one side to look at Megumi who was flexing a partially healed wing in her hands. When Kenshin finished translating She looked back at the priest. "I know to whom I answer when I am here. My hand is that of the Divine Will, but the responsibility of Justice is mine. Your offer is noted in your favor, and you make a good point. The caller had to be Japanese though, to stumble through what used to be a fairly simple rite bad enough for me to fall the way I did."

  
  


Isao's eyes glittered with wisdom, "No. Your wing was broken on purpose. The Divine Will knows the purpose of your calling, and has called upon you to use your judgment. If you think about it, your wing is healed now. You have heard this side of the story. You are now free to hear both sides of the story and make your own choice. Though I think when you go to hear the other side of the story, the opposing party will be very surprised."

  
  


Kenshin answered before Hikari could, "Why wold you say that? What is going on?"

  
  


Isao answered, "I think they spoke the wrong name. I can't say more, I see the pleading her eyes for me to allow her judgment to reign here, not yours Mr. Himura."

  
  


Kenshin turned to Hikari, the questions in his violet eyes broke her heart. She could only look at him apologetically, "Kenshin, thank the priest for his time and insight. Do not pressure him for any more information. I beg of you to trust me. I will be back when it is time. Thank your doctor as well. My time as the wounded bird is done. I have been healed to finish my job. Be ready for me just after midnight."

  
  


Kenshin offered Hikari's gratitude to everyone as he felt her stand up and turn to go. He turned to look at her, and saw her wings fade into wisps of smoke. She picked up the long gray cloak that she had brought with her, and then was when he noticed she was as they had seen her when she landed. She was dressed for battle, her weapons and armor all in place. He watched her throw the cloak over her shoulders and step off the porch.

  
  


He looked back at Kaoru and the others, his uncertainty showing in his eyes. He looked down at his hands and said, "If you will al excuse me, I am going to go to sleep. I am afraid if I stay here, I will ask questions that Hikari wants to answer herself. Thank you again for your help, Isao. She is grateful to you. I could feel her relief at your saying what she could not say."

  
  


Isao nodded, "The only advice I give you Mr. Himura is that she cannot lie. Justice is an agent of Truth, and lies have no place with her. She will omit things, but she will never lie."

  
  


Kenshin nodded, and turned for his room, leaving the group in silence. He was so frustrated. He knew he cared deeply for Kaoru, but the bond with Hikari was new and exciting to him, and he found himself feeling much the same for her. Which was completely ridiculous because he couldn't ever actually fulfill his love with a kami. Kami are spirits, she had said herself that she is just the embodiment of Justice. Maybe Kenshin's love of protection for the weak and oppressed was manifesting in his affection for Hikari.

  
  


It was all so confusing. And what was that about being an agent of Truth? She had called herself a child of Truth. Was truth the man in her mind, the Father and Lover? 

  
  


***********

  
  


The old priest was right. The path was laid out for her now. There was no way around it now. She had finally found the path, and her wing had healed with the knowledge of her task. She must fulfill her role as Justice. She must evenly hear both sides of the story and must mete out judgment. She would be the enabler and enactor of Justice, and as so often set before, the truth would set her free.

  
  


She appeared in the room with a flash of white, staring down at an older man whose gaze widened in terror.

  
  


"You called me," she said, making herself understood. One of the powers that had been taken from her when her wing had broken was the power to be understood and to understand all she spoke to or who spoke to her. Justice has to understand the witnesses.

  
  


"I-I-I" he stammered, bowing himself up, "You are Revenge? How terrifying!" His demeanor changed as he recognized what he was seeing, "The book said that you would be, but I wasn't expecting this! The ancient English must have needed a good scare in those days, hmm?"

  
  


Her face screwed up into a scowl, "You idiot. You mispronounced the name. Wrong spirit. Release me and send me home."

  
  


It seemed to take a moment for the information to sink in, "If you are not Revenge, then who are you?"

  
  


She crossed her arms in front of her, "Revenge is infernal, by the way. I am Divine. Were you calling upon the divine or the infernal?"

  
  


"The divine," he answered, fishing an old brown leather book from under a pile of bedding, "The book said that if a great wrong had gone unanswered, that I could call upon divine vengeance to bring justice down upon the unjust."

  
  


Her eyes widened and she snatched the book from him, "Japanese from Gaelic and Welsh translates terribly. You brought justice down all right. Literally," she flipped through the pages of the book and eyed him over the top. "This is a book of Druidic rites. No wonder you messed it up so badly. Everything's backwards and literal. Without an understanding of Druidic practice and philosophy, you couldn't understand what you have done. Either way, release me and destroy this book."

  
  


His eyes shone with the realization of what he had done, "I will not, Brehon of Justice. You will fulfill the requirements and then you will be set free."

  
  


She scowled at him again, Who do you think you are? Who do you think you're dealing with? I don't make bargains and I don't follow orders from mortals. I'll say it once more, release me, or know the price of your actions."

  
  


He laughed with delight, "Oh you are quite good. But if you kill me, you are trapped here. I have to release you. The rite says so. I set the rules."

  
  


She flipped the book at him, "Fine. But we do this my way. I am Justice, after all. So give me your side of the story. Why do you want this man dead?"

  
  


The man told the tale of how his son had been working for the Shogunate in the days of the revolution. He had worked as an apprentice to the minister of finance of the Tokugawa. He said that the Hitokiri Battousai, who now calls himself Kenshin Himura had slain his son in the dark of night in an alley and left his family orphaned with no father to care for them. The Battousai walks free while his son is dead.

  
  


She cocked her head, seeing the man's sadness, "And you hold this Battousai responsible for your son's death because he struck the blow."

The man nodded.

  
  


"Who ordered him to strike the blow. This revolution was what? Ten years ago? The man you accuse was a child then. While he may have been a fine swordsman, he did not act on his own. He followed orders."

  
  


The man looked down, "I don't know. It was Battousai who struck the blow that killed my son."

  
  


Hikari shook her head, "But you don't know who killed him. You did call on the wrong Kami. I am not an instrument of blind revenge. Battousai is responsible for his actions, and pays his penance for them every day, but he was like a sword. It is the sword that strikes the blow, but the killer is he who wields it. Battousai was the sword. Who struck the blow?" 

  
  


"I only want to see justice."

  
  


"She stands before you. You want to see closure. And you must understand that this man's death will not bring it to you. It will be an empty death. I will not kill him for you. Send me home."

  
  


The man looked at her, desperation in his eyes. For nearly a decade he had dreamed of the release the Battousai's death would bring him. He would not believe her if she had shown him the truth. He shook his head, "I called you down. I set the conditions. That is your release. I will not speak the words to release you. You will do as you are called upon to do."

  
  


"But you ask me to defy the Divine Will, you idiot!"

  
  


He shrugged, "What care I for the affairs of spirits in ways that do not give me peace at night? Go Spirit, and do as you are called upon to do. Your release is in the death of the Battousai."

  
  


He quickly called upon a dismissal chant and Hikari found herself out in the street. He was right. She could pass judgment all she wanted. The conditions had been set, and she had to answer them. She went back to the Dojo, her heart heavy, knowing what she would have to do. She walked into Kenshin's room and willed her belongings away. She saw his silhouette staring out into the night.

  
  


"You came back earlier than I thought," he said plainly.

  
  


"I know," she said.

  
  


"Since you're healed, you don't need me to stay with you."

  
  


"Yes, I do."

  
  


"Will you tell me everything?"

  
  


"In the morning. I promise. Send everyone away, and you and I can talk about all of this."

  
  


"And for now?"

  
  


"For now," she sighed, "I want to forget about judging, being judged, and just be. I love my job, I hate what I have to do."

  
  


He moved from beside the door and sat down in front of her, "Why?"

  
  


She shook her head at him, "Lay down on your stomach."

  
  


He didn't want to repeat the question, and did as he was told. He felt her pull his shirt from his shoulders and bare his back. He started to push himself upright, but felt her hand in the small of his back, stopping him. She moved, and he felt the press of her knees below his ribs. The insides of her feet pressed against his thighs, and he felt her hands on his back, so hot that they almost burned him.

  
  


She kneaded his back, the heat of her hands penetrating deep into muscle that had hurt for so long it had been forgotten.

  
  


"You have many scars Battousai," she whispered.

  
  


"I've fought many battles," he answered, relaxing under her touch. She had a healing effect on him, and something in him forced himself to let go and appreciate that.

  
  


"I know," she whispered. There will only be another one tomorrow. She felt the muscles of his back, drawing out the tension into her hands. The motion relaxed her as well, the rhythm of it sinking in and releasing her from her thoughts.

  
  


She continued until she felt him sleeping beneath her, then she rolled off of him and lay down beside him, facing him. His head was turned so that she could see the scar. This she touched like she had before, gently, and with the tenderness of maternity. 

  
  


If I kill him, it will not be justice, but it will be my only way out of this deal. But if I do something unjust, I defy the Divine Will. I'll certainly be punished. Perhaps its better to be punished where I am supposed to be.

  
  


She eventually closed her eyes and feigned sleep. Being healed meant that she didn't need to sleep anymore, since the passing of time was only a shadow. She listened to him breathe, and her heart ached to stop that breath.

  
  


***********

  
  


When dawn broke, Kenshin woke and found Kaoru getting ready to leave.

  
  


"You're taking Yahiko and Sanosuke with you, right?" he asked.

  
  


"Why would I do that?" she asked in reply.

  
  


"Because I'm asking you to," he answered.

  
  


"It has to do with that kami, doesn't it?" She sounded suspicious, though Kenshin had proven himself to her time and again.

  
  


He nodded, "She asked that no one be nearby today."

  
  


"Then let her leave," Kaoru answered.

  
  


It sounded like a reasonable request. Kenshin nodded, "I'll ask her. You go. I think things will resolve themselves tonight."

  
  


She looked at him quizzically, but nodded. She looked back at Kenshin as she left, not sure of what was happening, only the sense that something was going to happen.

  
  


Kenshin walked back into his room, and found Hikari there, dressed, and covered in her gray cloak. "We're leaving." 

  
  


He nodded in reply, "How did you know?"

  
  


"I'm not deaf."

  
  


He picked up his sword, just in case something happened, and followed her as she swept from the room. She kept a quick pace, turning away from town and moving out beyond the protection of the city. He continued to follow her, noting the seriousness of her demeanor.

  
  


"I'm sorry it has to be like this," she said, as they passed into a grove of trees.

  
  


"Sorry for what? It's been nice having you here, you make everyone so happy. Are you leaving now?"

  
  


"Yes," she said, her voice sounding very small and sad.

  
  


"But you promised me an explanation," he said.

  
  


"And you shall have it," she stopped in a clearing where the trees were tall around them and dappled the sunlight of the morning across the grass that was still wet with dew. "Hitokiri Battousai. What I am commanded to do is unjust, and will cost me dearly in the realm of spirits who serve the Divine Will. But my act of defiance will send me home."

  
  


He stopped, confused and dismayed at the lack of joy in her voice.

  
  


"The father of a man you killed over a decade ago acquired a book of rites and rituals used by the Druids of ancient England. One of my previous manifestation was as a guardian or Brehon of the Druids. He used one of the rites to call down the spirit of revenge, not understanding the differences between infernal and divine and most especially, the difference between revenge and justice. He believes that what he has commanded me to do is justice. He is wrong, but by the terms of my arrival, I am bound to finish the command he gave me. If I can complete it, I can go home. If I fail, then I find oblivion. Either way. This moment was inevitable and I can't stall it anymore."

  
  


Though he already had an idea, he asked anyway, "What exactly are you charged to do?"

  
  


She looked down in shame, "I have to rip your still beating heart from your chest and let its blood flow over a stone nearby. The act will be testament to my completion and will send me home."

  
  


"You know if we fight, you will lose," Kenshin said, "Your heart is not in this battle."

  
  


"I know," she answered, "Either way it goes, I am released from this bondage."

  
  


He shifted his stance, seeing and hearing her determination. He didn't cross his hand over to the sword just yet, hoping that she would back down.

  
  


"I'm sorry Kenshin. But look upon this as something that does not violate your vow to never kill. I was never actually alive."

  
  


He heard the song of her swords as she drew them, and felt the breeze stir as she spun them around. He watched her eyes first, and saw the sadness in them. Then she closed them and breathed. When she opened them again, he no longer saw his friend. He saw Justice bearing down on him, and he knew that in his heart he deserved this. This was Justice, even if Justice couldn't see that. Neither of them wanted this, but duty was a cruel mistress, Kenshin waited for her to move.

  
  


She shifted her stance and punched at the air with her guantleted fist, the sword turned sideways from the motion. A blue shockwave rolled from her shoulder across the glen and barely missed Kenshin as he stepped to the side in surprise. His hair ruffled in the wake of the blow and he completed his turn to face her once more.

  
  


She was closing in on him, a terrible reign of black hair and fury. He brought up the sword in defense, and warded the flurry of blows away. Just as he thought she was pulling away, he felt the sting of a cut into his thigh. He yelped in pain and surprise, realizing that she was truly serious about this.

  
  


The wound wasn't deep, but it stung painfully, He brought the sword around again, and again they locked together in a flurry. He broke away from her strikes and made an attack swing, only to encounter the metal of her guantleted arm. The impact rang out and shook all the way up his arm, jarring him to the teeth. He felt her shift to strike at him again, and moved, leaving her only a sapling behind him to cut down.

  
  


Her blade whipped through the sapling as though it were paper and she spun around. She brought her blades over her head just in time to stop the attack from above. The force of the blow brought her to her knees, and Kenshin could see her muscles straining to push him away.

  
  


They both had the speed of the gods. Their steps were matched in real dance of death. Kenshin fought for his life, and he knew it wasn't going to be easy. her fighting style was so different from any other that he had experienced. She did not think, she moved. He couldn't predict where she was going because so many parts of her moving all at once kept her from telegraphing what she was doing.

  
  


The only thing that will stop her is my final attack. He thought to himself, dismayed at the fury she showed. If her heart wasn't in the battle, something was fueling her swordsman's spirit to protect her. She may not present the opportunity.

  
  


She wheeled on him, and he noticed that she had heard his thoughts, and that he could hear hers. 

If I can breach that final attack, then the rest is silence. He saw her the instant she wheeled on him, and he saw that she was going to give him the opportunity. He prepared for it, his will to live overriding his longing for her survival.

  
  


A breath caught would have taken too long. In an eternal instant, she closed on him. He drew for the anakakeru ryu no hirameki. As he finished the attack, he saw that he had struck at thin air. She had stopped herself not half an inch away from the arc of the sword. But what isn't caught in the teeth and captured by the wind and ripped apart with the claws. The force drew her in to him and he finished the spin. She almost countered, raising her mailed fist to stop his blade and ducking at the same time.

  
  


Hikari knew that he could never have made this decision, nor would he have consented to the action. She had to make him use the second part of his final attack, which brought his sword in level and which weakened his body so that his grip was slightly compromised. She tapped down on the blade with the tops of her knuckles and felt it turn over. She dove under the blow, snapping her wings straight up from her back.

  
  


Blood stung his eyes. Blood? He stopped and turned to see Hikari fall in a spray of gore. Her wings fell from her back. When he looked down at his hand, his blade was reversed. He dropped the blood covered blade in horror.

  
  


"Hikari!"

  
  


She fell face down, unceremoniously. Blood now oozed from the two wounds in her back. He rushed to her side and turned her over onto his lap. Her eyes were closed and there was something of a smile to her lips. "Hikari." he said, trying to wake her up. he felt her move for just a moment, and her eyes fluttered open.

  
  


"Himura," she whispered.

  
  


"I'm sorry Hikari-kami," his eyes welled with tears of self-loathing.

  
  


"Don't be. You have not broken your vow," she linked her arms around his neck and pulled herself up to him. "You did not kill me." her lips closed over his and he felt the breath leave her.

  
  


The hot blood that flowed over his hakama suddenly became very cold. He broke away from her face to hug her tightly to him, and saw that she did not bleed red gore. It was water that flowed from her wounds. He continued to hold her there, willing her to live, and knowing he would fail.

  
  


When even the water stopped, he noticed that she was no longer armored and dressed for war. Those things had faded from her. The remains of her wings were gone as well as the blood on his hakama. He held only the very cold body of the kami.

  
  


He wrapped her in the cloak and as the day died, he carried her back to the dojo where Priest Isao, Megumi, Kaoru, Yahiko, and Sano were waiting.

  
  


The cacophony of horrified cries greeted him as he carried the body of the kami. Megumi and Isao rushed to his side to relieve him of her weight, as he had not noticed the dozens of small cuts that covered him and bled freely. He dropped to his knees and buried his face in his hands, "I killed her Kaoru. She said she had to kill me, and I killed her."

  
  


Kaoru reserved her judgment and shock, and put an arm around Kenshin to help him inside. She held his head in her lap as Megumi came in to tend his wounds.

  
  


"What does the priest say we should do with the body?" Kaoru asked, stroking Kenshin's hair.

  
  


"What body?" Megumi asked.

  
  


"The body of the Kami," Kaoru answered, a little surprised that Megumi didn't seem to understand her.

  
  


"Well, I think she would be offended if we cremated it, since she's still using it."

  
  


Kenshin's eyes flew open like shoji screens being pushed aside by an angry lover. "What?"

  
  


"The priest says that you only cut off her wings. You didn't kill her. You made her mortal. She's sleeping now."

  
  


Kenshin sat up, "I have to see her."

  
  


Megumi pushed him back down, "No, you don't. Though I hope that this will make Kaoru think twice before she insults a kami."

  
  


"Why would I do that?" Kaoru asked, "She tried to kill Kenshin."

  
  


"No she didn't," said Isao's voice from behind. He came in and sat down to their questioning looks. "Hikari was bound here by a command to kill Mr. Himura. But when she was trapped here, her wing was broken to separate her from her divine powers. She was trapped here with you, and learned about Mr. Himura. Last night, she left to meet the person who had summoned her to hear his side of the story."

  
  


"What she didn't think about was that it didn't matter what decision she made, the command still bound her to earth. The command, I imagine, had something to do with taking Mr. Himura's life. When presented with the option of defying her own judgment or being trapped here for eternity, always tortured by the divine empathy that she would never be a part of again, she decided that it would be better to sacrifice herself and become mortal. There is an ancient story that says that if an angel cuts off his wings, he becomes mortal. Hikari is, in some cultures, considered an angel. But she couldn't reach behind her with enough force to cut off her wings. That was the irony of the legend. Angels can't touch their own backs, and can't cut off their own wings. She obviously forced Mr. Himura to do it for her. Quite clever of her I would say."

  
  


The stunned looks from around the room dissipated after several minutes, Kenshin broke the silence, "So she's alive."

  
  


"Quite," answered Isao, "And she will need your help to adapt to her life here. She speaks Japanese now, which is good. I would suggest you let her keep the name you gave her, and help her to learn about being Japanese."

  
  


"Will she remember any of this?" Megumi asked.

  
  


Isao nodded sadly, "Regrettably, it is the fate of the fallen to remember the life they once had. But she can live and die as a mortal, not bound here by someone else's will. Remember, she chose to fall. And I will leave you so that she and all of you can get some sleep."

  
  


With that he left, followed later by Megumi. Kaoru and the others eventually fell asleep, leaving Kenshin to find Hikari. He found her the way he had found her two nights ago. Asleep on her stomach, the covers barely covering the swell of her hips. He shut the door behind him and sat down beside her where he could see the wounds he had caused. Two angry red scars striped her back, but they looked as though they had been there for years. He touched one, lightly, and she stirred. She was asleep, deeply so.

  
  


He lay down and rested his head in the small of her back, letting his tears puddle there as night passed.

  
  


***************************

  
  


Morning, or maybe afternoon, Kenshin couldn't tell. He awoke with his arms around Hikari, who still slept deeply. His face was still damp, and his clothes were rumpled. He extricated himself from the tangle and pushed open the shoji door just a bit to see who was still there.

  
  


Everything was deathly still, even the breeze had ceased, leaving a hanging oppressive silence to the air. He knew they were alone together. Everyone else must have left for the day.

  
  


Kenshin brushed out his clothes and went to fetch some well water. He found the pail filled near the porch and brought it inside to Hikari. He sat down beside her and lightly brushed her cheek with his hand, "Hikari?" he asked softly.

  
  


She stirred beneath his touch and her eyes fluttered open. He gasped, horrified at the mossy banality of those green eyes. She was mortal, and she was looking it. "What?" she slurred at him.

  
  


He shook his head quickly, "Nothing. How are you feeling?"

  
  


She reached for the cup of water he offered and sat up. After taking a sip, she looked at him thoughtfully and said, "As though I were dead."

"Why?" It was the only question he could ask, and it choked out of him in a whisper.

  
  


"Because, Kenshin. I would rather live only the brief flicker of an instant without than to spend eternity knowing I took you away. Because I would rather be separated from the Divine Will by my own choosing than to defy it or violate it in any way. That Divine Will is a part of you, and you of it, though you can't see it like I can....could. To preserve you and it, I made my decision. Besides, mortal existence is short, and then I can leave this place in death and truly join with the Divine Will, become a part of it, as you will when you die," the tone in her voice broke his heart again, and he felt the burning of tears.

  
  


She looked at him, and her eyes softened more, "Oh sweet Kenshin. Don't mourn for me. I did this for you. Let me give you this. You don't let anyone give you anything. Let me give you this." Her hand touched his cheek, covering the scar with her soft fingers.

  
  


"But Hikari, how could you let me take this from you? It's not a gift in a box, it had to be ripped from you. Why make me do it?"

  
  


She took another deep breath, "I promised you honesty."

  
  


"That you did."

  
  


"I breathed you in. I felt you, and knew you. You touched me, and stirred me up inside. You stole the breath from my lungs. I knew, for these days, the joy and beauty of the mortal world, and all of it, everything good about it, I found in your eyes. I did this because I love you, and because I trust you."

  
  


He hung his head, "Hikari-kami. I am not worthy of this."

  
  


She smiled sadly at him and lifted his chin, "Kenshin Himura Battousai, whoever, and whatever you are, I used to be Justice. Don't you think I have a reasonably good basis for making judgment calls? Besides, when I saw your final attack against the burned one, I knew that the second strike would do the job."

  
  


He shook his head, "I never meant for the anakakeru ryu no hirameki to be used in such a way."

  
  


"The strike of the dragon can fell angels," she whispered, "Now go, Kenshin, and leave me be. I have a great deal of sadness and a void inside me. I can not let you attempt to bear it. Your load is heavy enough."

  
  


Most mornings went like that. For several weeks, Hikari would refuse to see anyone or talk to anyone but Kenshin. Then only briefly, to assure him of her choice and his lack of guilt. Kenshin would not be consoled, and truly felt that he had killed something that should never have known death. Eventually, Hikari sounded the same each day, and would encourage him to leave with the others. When they arrived home each night, the dojo had been cleaned, and dinner was prepared for them. Hikari never ate with them, and with time, she became as a ghost to Kaoru, Sanosuke, Yahiko and Megumi. Only Kenshin sat up nights watching her shadow against the shoji screen, doubled over and sobbing from the grief she bore.

  
  


He longed to go to her on those nights, to hold her and offer her comfort. In a strange way he longed to love her, but he knew that he would only meet her rejection of him. She had told him that she loved him, but how? Sometimes she seemed motherly, other time she seemed passionate. She confounded him terribly, and left him to sit beside the shoji, listening to her sobs, wiping away his own tears of remorse for what he had done. Her grief paralyzed him. 

  
  


More time passed, and Kenshin seemed much like his old self. He was cheery and pleasant for the most part. Still, he would sit at night next to the shoji and listening to Hikari's tears, which softened with time. Her sobs were his lullaby.

  
  


*****************

  
  


One morning, There was a fierce knock at the gate. Kenshin jumped to life and picked up his sword, not sure of who would be visiting at this hour. Kaoru stumbled out in her robe and Yahiko emerged looking bleary-eyed.

They approached the gate together, and Kaoru called out, "Who is it?"

  
  


A voice on the other side answered, "I'm sorry to disturb you at this hour. I'm looking for someone, and a priest said that you might be able to help, Miss Kamiya?"

  
  


Kenshin pulled open the gate to stand nose-to-chest with a tall radiant looking man. His coppery golden hair was tied back loosely at the base of his skull. He looked very European, but had delicate, almost feminine features. He smiled easily, and his eyes shone like liquid gold at Kaoru, "Again, I apologize for the hour. But I brought breakfast with me to make up for it."

  
  


She practically melted at the sight of him, "Such a considerate man! Certainly we will try to help you in any way we can. Please do come in!"

  
  


As Kaoru took him by the hand and led him to the porch, Kenshin lagged behind, thinking there was something familiar about that man and the way he talked.

  
  


They sat down to breakfast, and Kenshin immediately put some aside for Hikari, in case she woke up. Once they were eating, Kaoru asked the man, "What's your name and how can we help you?"

  
  


He stopped briefly, then answered, "Angelo Inomine," Kenshin knew as soon as he said it. He was another kami, and Hikari was the reason he was here. The name he gave was "In the Name of Angels" reversed in Latin. Isao had said that Hikari couldn't lie. This one might not be able to either.

  
  


He continued, "A friend of mine was traveling through Edo recently, and I haven't heard from her in several weeks, which is unusual for her. I asked a few people in town, described her, and a priest said that perhaps you and a Kenshin Himura could help me find her. He said that you had a guest recently who sounds like her."

  
  


He saw Kaoru make the connection and watched her inhale, "What does she look like?"

  
  


He smiled at her again, "Almost as pretty as you, with long black hair and green eyes. She doesn't speak Japanese very well at all, and I'm concerned for her safety. She's very tall, also."

  
  


Kaoru bowed her head at the flattery, "We might be able to help you. If Hikari is willing to answer your questions. You see, she's well versed on Europeans in this area, and would have noticed her. Kenshin will be happy to go ask her."

  
  


Kenshin saw the look Kaoru gave him and hopped to his feet, "With your pardon, I'll do just that, now."

  
  


He does tell the truth. He had to be a friend of Hikari's. But why would a Kami come after her? She was mortal now. Kenshin hopped up to the shoji leading into the room where Hikari was and slid the door back, "Hikari-dono?"

  
  


She stirred and sat up, clutching the covers to her chest. She looked breathtaking as the morning light broke over her, her black hair was tousled around her shoulders and pooled around her on the floor. She smiled at him taking in his disheveled red hair and hesitant violet gaze. He had such beautiful hands, "What is it Kenshin?"

  
  


"There's someone here to see you. It's a kami." He moved into the room and shut the door behind him, "He's not here to kill you, is he? Because he will have to go through me."

  
  


The look of surprise on her face was a new expression, "No. Are you sure he is here for me, and not for you to offer you something to repay your troubles with me?"

  
  


"Quite sure," He sat down across from her, "If he is here to take you away, then I want to talk to you first."

  
  


She shrugged, "I don't know why he is here." She got to her feet and began to get dressed. She had never worried about Kenshin or anyone being in the room with her as she did so, and Kenshin took what he felt might be his last chance to absorb every inch of her into his memory.

  
  


"Hikari-dono. I have hated your sadness for so very long. It has kept me awake at night listening to you cry. Suddenly, though, the idea of you going away has me scared, and feeling very selfish. I want to love you. I do love you." He didn't think the words would be so difficult for him.

  
  


"I think it has you feeling very brave," she said, raising her arms to pull on her big white shirt that Kenshin had cleaned so many times.

  
  


"Please, Hikari," He closed the distance between them, "Even if you leave us, will you still feel the same."

  
  


She let him wrap his arms around her waist and put her palms on either side of his head. "Kenshin, it's very likely that I am not going anywhere. He may have just wanted to ensure I made this choice and that it wasn't taken from me by force. Please understand that before you commit yourself."

  
  


He turned his face toward hers, and in a moment of boldness brought on by cowardice, he pressed his lips to hers. He tried so desperately to say in that kiss what had been said between them in the garden so long ago. He hoped that he could reawaken the link between them, and they could dance through each others minds.

  
  


When he finally released her mouth, he breathed her in. Her exhales were his inhales. He felt her fingers tangled in his hair, and realized that he had her locks twisted in his clinging fist. "I can't let it happen again," he whispered huskily, "I can't let you slip through my fingers."

  
  


She did just that as she pulled away from him. "You're serious?"

  
  


He nodded.

  
  


"Then lets get this over with and see what happens now," she reached for her tight black breeches and pulled them on, then sat outside and tugged at her boots.

  
  


Kenshin followed, a little dazed by his own actions, until Angelo's voice rang out "Cairys!" She didn't look up from her boot as he approached, "I am called Hikari now."

  
  


"So I am led to believe, Oh my little one, what happened?" He knelt in front of her, and placed his hands on her knee. A wave of possessiveness filled Kenshin as he shifted position.

  
  


"I made my choice," she said.

  
  


"I know, we all know. I've come with an offer."

She tilted her head at him, "I'm listening."

  
  


He stood up, "Precious Cairys, You made your choice under duress. And the Divine Will was pleased with your choice. I have been permitted to bring you home, and let you resume your position. That you were willing to sacrifice yourself to preserve your obedience to the Divine Will was astonishingly loyal, and worthy of some recognition. The least that can be done for you is to not make you face mortality without knowing the love of the Divine Will."

  
  


She looked at him, tears welling up in her eyes, "But with freedom comes consequences of the choices we make. I asserted my free will, and severed myself by my choice. I could just as easily killed this man and dealt with the punishment as an actor of the Divine Will. I doubt my punishment would have been this severe."

  
  


Kenshin interrupted, confused, "Why does he keep calling you Care-is?"

  
  


She stopped and pulled her gaze from Angelo's to look at Kenshin, "Cairys is Gaelic for Justice. It's one of my oldest names."

  
  


Kenshin nodded thoughtfully, "Cairys. Go with him. I can see the joy in your eyes at the thought of it. Please go."

  
  


She furrowed her brow at him, "A moment ago you wanted me to stay." She stood up on the porch and took Kenshin's hand. "You confuse me terribly."

  
  


Kenshin smiled at her, "Because I want my last memory of you to be as you were meant to be, not this shell of what was taken from you. Please Cairys." Her name sounded thick on his tongue, "But in my heart you will always be Hikari."

  
  


She smiled, a tear welling up in her eye, she touched his scar again, "What is your oldest name, Himura?"

  
  


"Shinta," he whispered, bowing his head. He looked at her fingers tangled up in his. Two swordmasters hands. Hands that had killed that belonged to hearts that only wanted to know right.

  
  


"Shinta," she answered, "Go to Kaoru, and love her with all your mortal fiber. But do not forget me. When your day comes, I will stop you on the road after death. Be prepared to answer for your actions today. Spend your mortal life here, but consider spending eternity with me. Justice should always be tempered with mercy. Consider it."

  
  


Kenshin nodded, then threw his arms around her in the tightest embrace he could manage. She felt so warm and safe, it was all he wanted to go with her or to make her stay. He shut his eyes tightly breathing her in for the last time. When he released her, he saw the kami. She was just as tall and glorious. Her wings were whole and where they belonged. She had her armor and swords and her hair was in a neat topknot from which her hair draped like ribbons to the middle of her thighs. She leaned forward and kissed him again on the cross-shaped scar on his cheek. She whispered to him, "You know my name. If you ever need me, call on me. Besides, someday Battousai will have to be slain. But you will be the one to do it."

  
  


He blinked as she pulled away and he saw her take the hand of Angelo, who had transformed like her. Soft golden wings and a warm glow surrounded him. That glow extended out to Hikari, and Kenshin felt its warmth before there was a blinding flash and they were both gone.

  
  



	2. Fading Dreams

Kenshin blinked against the sunlight streaking into the room through a tiny gap in the door. The focused beam of course, landed directly in his eyes, and left little red spots in his vision. He blinked them away, thinking just an instant ago, it had been mid morning.

  
  


He rolled over, expecting to see her, to feel her there. But there was nothing. He couldn't even smell her, that primal divine scent that made him think of crashing waves and quiet breezes. He stood up, brushed himself off, and opened the door into the blinding sunlight.

  
  


"Kenshin!" Kaoru's voice broke the morning.

  
  


He looked at her blearily, not sure what was going on. She ran up to him and took his hand, "We have a lot of cleaning up to do." She drug him toward the porch where Yahiko was eating breakfast.

  
  


"Where's Hikari?" He asked, looking around.

  
  


Kaoru stopped and looked at him, "Who?"

  
  


"Hikari," Kenshin repeated, still dazed and now very confused. Where was the kami?

  
  


"Who is Hikari?" Kaoru asked, sounding worried. It was hard to tell if the worry came from jealousy or concern for his mental well-being.

  
  


Kenshin shook himself free, "I'm sorry Miss Kaoru. I guess I'm just not all the way awake yet, that's all. It must've been a dream."

  
  


Kaoru seemed to really not know who Hikari was, or Cairys, or whatever her name was. What shook him the most was the calendar. As they approached, he saw that the calendar was seven weeks slow, st least in his own mind. Kaoru was very conscientious about that calendar, and seemed strange that it would be seven weeks behind.

  
  


Or was it?

  
  


He shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs of confusion. "Miss Kaoru, I'll go to town and get some things for dinner." He picked up the Tofu bucket and his sword and walked out, not giving her the chance to reply. She looked a little stunned, but she couldn't seem to muster a reply either.

  
  


He took the road toward the market, mulling over his dream, which seemed so completely vivid and real in his mind. He could still feel her, he knew her. He reached down to scratch an itch on his leg and felt where his hakama had been repaired from one of the cuts she had delivered. Or had that just been someone else? His poor clothes had seen better days, and were constantly having to be repaired.

  
  


It had to be real. His memory was clear on that. But the days hadn't changed. He stepped to the side of the road as a carriage rumbled past. Its black wheels spinning dust up in the road. 

It wasn't making sense anymore. If last night had been a dream, then what empowered that dream so much that he could still feel the warmth of her, and knew her smile? What other force was at work here?

  
  


He heard a crashing sound, and horses shrieking not very far ahead of him. The carriage had probably been going to fast for the curve before the bridge. He started a run toward the carriage, in case there was anything he could do. As he closed the distance, he heard the sounds of battle, mostly a loud male voice in a language he didn't understand.

  
  


The bucket was dropped, forgotten as he picked up speed. Bandits must have overturned the carriage. He cleared the turn and saw that his suspicions were correct. Four bandits fought with a European man who had managed to climb out of the overturned carriage. He was a terribly frightening sight, and Kenshin couldn't think of why the bandits still fought him. The man's sword had to be at least six feet long.

  
  


A woman was struggling her way out of the carriage, dressed in those bulky dresses that Western women were known to wear. Somehow, despite all that fabric, she had escaped notice and was moving to release the horses.

  
  


Kenshin wasted less time observing and more time closing in, his sword catching two of the men in the back of the head. Once freed from the four-sided press, the Western man swung his huge sword and batted the other two men down with one blow. Kenshin noticed that he used the flat of his blade, so as not to kill anyone.

  
  


He just barely ducked under another swing of the huge sword, and realized that the Westerner didn't know him from the bandits. He put his hand up in surrender and used his free hand to sheath his sword. He saw the man stop in surprise, and then plant the huge blade in the ground, and put up his hands in a gesture of friendship, "I'm sorry about that sir, I was just trying to protect my sister. Thank you for your help."

  
  


He spoke Japanese! And pretty well too, despite the strange accent he put into it. The carriage shifted and Kenshin could see that the woman had gotten the horses free. He peered around the big man to see if she was well. The man turned as well, and said something to her, it sounded familiar, but then not.

  
  


She made a face at him and then said, also in Japanese, "Don't you think its rude to speak another language in order to isolate someone from a conversation? To answer your question, Mick, I'm just fine. And I think the horses are fine as well. I can't say so much for the carriage."

  
  


She looked both dark and pale from this distance. Her hair was a deep brown, but in the sunlight, it burned a bright red. She had bright green eyes and pale skin. Something about her looked familiar, then again, it didn't. He bowed to the man and said, "My name is Kenshin Himura. I was just heading into town and heard the commotion. I thought I would stop to help."

  
  


The man looked back at him, his hair was a reddish gold, and his eyes were gray, he and she shared similar features, but their coloring couldn't have been more different, "My name is Angus MacLarrin, I apologize for my half-sister Carin there. She's a little brash, but then so are most women, eh?"

  
  


Kenshin looked at her again, and something stirred briefly. She seemed bothered, but not really upset, as she led the horses around the remains of the carriage. He looked back at Angus, "You are both not hurt?"

  
  


Angus shifted his arms around a bit, then shook his head, "No, I think I'll have a bruise or two, but I'm just fine. And if Carin were hurt, trust me, she'd have let us know by now."

  
  


She huffed at her brother, "Actually, sir, I've hurt my wrist. Not that my rotten brother cares, he broke it enough when we were children." She passed a glare to her brother, and he withered a little under that look. She did hold her left hand close to her body while her right hand grasped the reins. She nodded at the four piles on the ground, "Should we contact the authorities?"

  
  


Her words broke Kenshin from his reverie of wondering if he could only see her faintly, would she remind him of Hikari. He looked around, "I doubt they'll be up for a fight when they wake up, but you're probably right. Why don't I go ahead for you and I'll let the first officer I see know that you are here and need help?"

  
  


"You shouldn't go alone," she answered, "Angus, you wait here, I'll go with Mr. Himura into town and that way I can get to a doctor quicker." She showed him her wrist, which was turning an angry purple.

  
  


Angus frowned at her wrist, "Maybe you better. I'll salvage what I can from the carriage."

  
  


She nodded and smiled at Kenshin, who saw a precious warmth in that smile. He couldn't resist smiling back, "I know a good doctor who will take good care of you Miss." He carefully led her out of the gully and back onto the road, noticing that she didn't let the cumbersome skirts get in her way as she climbed the hillock.

  
  


They walked silently together for a while. Kenshin looked at her occasionally, she could look like Hikari, if he thought about it hard enough. And her voice had a similar lilt to it. What if?

"Did you say your name was Cairys?"

  
  


She looked at him, "Actually my brother told you my name is Carin, not Cairys. You speak Gaelic?"

  
  


He shook his head, "I met someone once whose name was Cairys."

  
  


She shrugged a little, "That's a strange name, and might bring bad luck down from the Brehon."

  
  


"Why would it do that, and what's a Brehon?"

  
  


She smiled and shook her head, "It's an old story from Scotland, and Ireland and Wales, I think. My mother used to tell me about the Brehon. They were special Faerie that were the guardians of the human heart. Cairys is an old Gaelic word for Justice, and names used to be very important to my people. These Faeries didn't like for people to use their names, because whenever you spoke them, they would appear. Which I imagine is very difficult for someone who is trying to keep people just and fair to have to run off everytime some poor girl's mother calls her home for dinner. But no one believes those things anymore." She sounded a little sad. 

  
  


Kenshin nodded, "Legends die over time. Modernization takes some of the mystery out of things. We have stories of spirits and gods too. Sometimes I think its more lip service than anything."

  
  


As they came into town, a police officer was not to be seen, Kenshin led Carin to the clinic and found Megumi washing her hands outside. She smiled brightly at Kenshin, "And what can I do for you?"

  
  


Kenshin guided Carin to Megumi, "This lady hurt her wrist when her carriage was tipped over near the bridge. I was wondering if you could help her."

  
  


Megumi smiled secretly at Kenshin and whispered, "You have this penchant for bringing me strange women, don't you?"

  
  


Kenshin looked at her surprised, and Carin interjected, a little put off, "I beg your pardon, but I hardly qualify as strange."

  
  


Megumi nodded at Carin in concession, "I apologize, the last time he brought me someone, she didn't speak such excellent Japanese. Come on, let's look at your wrist."

  
  


Kenshin still shook his head at Megumi, who leaned back to him and whispered, "I had the same dream. We'll talk about it later." He watched the pair walk off and left to find a police officer.

  
  


Passing an alley, he heard the sounds of another fight, and turned the corner to see a man falling onto his back as a tall woman in an expensive kimono brought her foot back down. She looked at him and he realized he was yet again staring into another pair of green eyes. These were dark and steely. Her hair was a bluish black, but she was tall. She reached up into her hair, and pulled out a dart that had been posing as a hair ornament. He didn't even see the flick of her wrist as she flung it at him. He heard it, and leaned to a side, "Hikari! I'm not going to hurt you!"

  
  


She looked the little man over and brushed her kimono back into place, "Sayuri, not Hikari. And you never know how many men there can be." He realized that she was a geisha who had almost been mugged. 

  
  


"Good thing you know akido, Miss Sayuri," Kenshin said, nodding at the heap in front of her, "I apologize, you just looked like someone I know. If you're well, I'll leave you alone now."

  
  


She nodded, and thanked him for his concern. He walked away, shaking his head. She was everywhere, in every woman he saw. How could anyone, anything possess him this badly? He felt nothing but the complete lack of control he had, He muttered through his day, sending a police officer to help Angus and buying tofu and a new tofu bucket.

  
  


The road back was quiet, and the sky turned dusky, the time for spirits to show themselves. He shook his head at the silly thought. Hikari had been a dream, a wild dream and wasn't real. But how had Megumi had the same dream? Why didn't Kaoru remember her? Why did he have to? Why did she consume him like this?

  
  


He couldn't go back to the dojo. He left the bucket and knocked on the door. He just kept walking. The dream nagged at him, not the dream, just her. He didn't even pay attention to where he was going, he didn't care how far he went. The graying skies of dusk muddled his mind. But he was not going to sleep. She would not win this.

  
  


His feet led him to the grove where they had fought. It actually existed. He sat down next to a tree and looked up through the gap in the trees to the slowly starring sky. "What is happening to me?"

  
  


"Nothing," she answered. He lowered his head to look ahead of him, and saw her sitting there, just as casual as you please. 

  
  


"I thought you couldn't lie," He narrowed his eyes at her, not sure if she were real.

  
  


"I can lie just fine, I'm just miserable at it," she answered. She was so beautiful there, as the moonlight started to creep through the trees.

  
  


"I'm going crazy. I see you everywhere." He was just as she remembered him, passionate and wild under a very cool and well-tamed exterior. She leaned forward at him, and peered at him.

  
  


How could he have ever mistaken those eyes? Her hair was so black, it seemed to draw the light into its void. It spilled out of an elaborately braided topknot that stuck out through the top of a sort of open-faced helm. There was a thin rivulet of the void spilling over her shoulder and pooling on the ground at her hip. She still had the armor on her right arm, and her bracer on her left. The swords sat beside her, and Kenshin knew that she could get to them at a moment's notice. He had a good chance now to see how tightly her top fit to her figure. Her breasts were outlined in such graphic detail that Kenshin averted his gaze to her midriff, where he could see the indentation of her navel. She wore a sort of battle skirt of crimson, this too, pooled around her in places, sometimes mingling with the black of her hair.

  
  


"You're not going crazy," her voice was soft, and warm. The familiarity of it surprised him for a dream. He felt a little unkempt sitting there with her. His clothes were worn, his hands were calloused, his hair was tousled. She looked so crisp and perfect, and he felt like a wild beast trapped in her verdant gaze.

  
  


"I said things," he couldn't think of when exactly he said them.

"You did," she said, moving closer to him. She pulled his ponytail from behind him over his shoulder and toyed with the red locks, "Should I hold you to them?"

  
  


He looked at her, his eyes a deep and entrancing violet, "I would very much like to be held to them. And I try very hard to be a man of my word."

  
  


Her hand slipped down through his hair to close over his own hand resting in his lap. Despite the metal over her fingers, he felt a soft kidskin touching his hand. He took her hand and turned it over, touching the soft glove under the metal, "Hikari, you are not here to fight me. Take off your armor."

  
  


She smiled lightly at him, her voice barely over a whisper, "Maybe its not you who I have to fight, but me. I don't want to do this to your mortality." She gripped his gaze in her own, finding nothing but innocent desire in the twilight of his eyes. She willed everything away, and closed her bare hand around his. He looked at her again, and saw the softness where he knew it was.

  
  


"My mortality is ruined. I should never have let you go." He was breathless with her so close to him. He felt so very on the brink of his control. "But your pain would have killed me."

  
  


She leaned forward and he felt the cool wet of her lips just beneath his, her kiss was like a raindrop, very sudden and lingering. She whispered into his chin, "My immortality is killing me, waiting for you. Why haven't you called on me?"

  
  


"Has it only been a day?" He tilted his head, to meet her kisses, and spoke into her lips.

  
  


"A day, a week, an eternity, a breath, they are all the same," she pulled him closer, and he rose up on his knees to meet her demand. His hands reached for her topknot, to pull it loose.

  
  


"You were never so beautiful as you were in the mornings with your hair wild and untamed around you," he felt her bury her face in the crook of his neck, and almost fell back with the delicious sensation of the kisses she left on his collarbone. He pulled the topknot free, and the depths of her hair spilled over his fingers, sleek as silk, soft as a cloud, it must be what shadows feel like.

  
  


"You were never so beautiful as when you turned that corner ready to strike someone down, both times today."

  
  


"You saw?" He could barely speak, he was near gasping for breath with his head tilted skyward.

  
  


She found the center of his collarbone and pressed her mouth there, "I haven't watched anything else today."

  
  


He gripped her shoulders, mentally surprised at the defined musculature there, "Then why let me suffer all day? Why not answer my questions?" He took hold of her gaze then, taking the dominating role. He was the man here, after all, he pressed his hand into the small of her back, and there they embraced, on their knees in worship of each other, "Do you like to watch me suffer?"

  
  


"I can't stand it," She closed the space between their mouths, "I thought that to give you back the time I took from you, you would forget, and could live as you meant to." He felt her hands trail under his ribs and up his chest. Her lashes brushed his cheek, and he inhaled deeply the primordial feel of her.

  
  


"I could never forget," He swept his fingers into the hair at the nape of her neck, "Don't ask me to."

  
  


Her hands trailed down the gap in his gi, her fingertips brushing his breastbone and coming to rest just under the tie of his hakama. "Neither can I," she said, draping kisses down his chin and into his neck again.

  
  


"I know the pain you felt now, as a mortal, the feeling of being severed," he tugged at the laces of the soft white shirt that her armor had been replaced with, "There's a void when you are not with me, a cold horrible emptiness that I can not bear to look into."

  
  


"I'm so sorry," She freed his gi from the hakama and her bare hand pressed into the small of his back, the muscles trembled under her fingers. 

  
  


He closed his fist in her hair, and her head tipped back, baring her neck to him. "Don't be sorry," he breathed the words into the divot in the center of her collarbone, "How much more of a void would there be for never having known you?"

  
  


He felt his gi slip away, and instinctively recoiled, knowing the scars that marked his body, and knowing hers was unmarred. Her hand in his back stopped him, and she dropped her head to meet his gaze, "Something wrong?"

  
  


He looked into those eyes, eyes that promised both death and life in the same instant, and whispered, "I've seen many battles."

  
  


She smiled just a touch, just to the point that her face softened, "Not all of us get to wear our scars on the outside."

  
  


He closed the distance between them again, tugging at the hem of her shirt, which seemed to float away under his touch, he ran his hands down her back, "Where are they?" His hands at stopped just inside her shoulder blades.

  
  


"Where they always are," she answered, and he felt his hands pushed aside by warm feathers. The fiery colored wings curled around them both, and he reached out to touch one of them. The space this created drew her fingers to rest over his heart, "I love the sound of a heartbeat, the feel of it. That's life, Kenshin."

  
  


He looked at her, and returned the touch. He felt the heat of her body, but no pulse. He looked at her, the question in his eyes.

  
  


"I don't need it. The pulse is just a timer to death. And I will not know death."

  
  


He pulled her to him his ardent kisses being met, matched with a force that neither of them could have ever explained or understood. The rest of the world seemed to fall away leaving them there, together, breathless and breathing of each other. 

  
  


Their union fulfilled itself there under the stars. They seemed one body, one form, limned in the bluish tint of moonlight glistening off of love-flushed skin. Kenshin lay there, listening to her breathe in the silence of the night, her hair strewn across his chest, cool and smooth. He closed his eyes, and just breathed, listening and feeling.

  
  


"I don't want to lose you," she murmured, sitting up on her elbows, causing the locks across his chest to stir and send shivers down his middle.

  
  


"You won't. Where could I go that you could not reach?" He lazily took up some of the black hair, and let it spill over his fingers. His voice was calm, and content, sated even.

  
  


She frowned, "Please. This is going to get me into enough trouble as it is. Divinity only knows what I am supposed to be doing instead of being here with you."

  
  


He raised his head, his hair a tousled mess under her previous frantic ministrations, "But I called you."

  
  


She titled her head downward and pressed her lips where his breastbone ended, "I can always ignore you. It takes something else to force me. Anyone can call on me. I chose to answer."

  
  


He sat up, and grabbed her fingers, "Then how do I force you? How do I keep this?"

  
  


The plan was cold, and heartless, and it pained her, but he stepped right into the door, she had to get that book away from the man who had called her. She blinked a couple of times, "If you can get the book that was used to call me down in the first place, I'm sure there's a way in there."

  
  


"Tell me where it is, and I will get it."

  
  


She told him where the man's house was, and told him who he was. She described the book to him, all the while, looking at the grass that had been crushed under their bodies. "It doesn't need to be in his hands anyway. He abused it."

  
  


She got to her feet, and shook out her hair. She looked down at him, his nakedness beautifully vulnerable; his eyes so wide and deceptive. The innocence was a mask worn over the tragedy he had seen and done.

  
  


"Until I get it, can I see you again?" He sat up now, suddenly aware of his nudity. He reached for his gi.

  
  


She looked at him thoughtfully, then swung a wing around to bring it into reach. She pulled off three feathers, long, and orange at the roots, darkening to a flaming red at the tip. These she dropped in his lap, "Come here, and drop one of them on the ground and call out to me. I have to answer."

  
  


He nodded, "Thank you," He looked at her thoughtfully, "Can you actually fly? I mean, I've never seen you fly, and just wondered..." his voice trailed off under her look.

  
  


"Of course I can fly. Not that I intend to here, that might cause a scene," She stretched her wings out behind her, and he saw them tremble with the strain as she extended them all the way out. Each one had to be close to ten feet long. "Frankly, there is not always ground under your feet in the realm of spirits. You have to get around somehow. Mortals are part of the Divine Consciousness, and can move under their own power. I'm not mortal, so I have to get around in other ways. They are also my connection to the Divine Will. Without them I am mortal, as you've learned. With them, I have all the tools of a divine servant.."

  
  


"What's it like for you? What do you do all day?" He shrugged into his gi to shake off the impending chill of the night.

  
  


She shrugged her shirt over her head, "Mostly? I watch. You have to remember that we are in constant conflict with the infernal. Major spirits, like me, who are actually somewhere in the middle, watch over the realms we guard, and when there is an infraction, its an invasion of the infernal. Then we go out to meet it. A battle ensues, and the victors win the mortal outcome."

  
  


He looked at her confused, "So winning the mortal outcome does what?"

  
  


She inhaled deeply, "Every just act in this world strengthens me. I live or die by man's sense of justice. Every corrupt act weakens me. It's a strange balance, and most things have little to no actual effect. The death of innocents in the name of justice tends to tick me off enough to make an appearance, but I understand the nature of the balance. If all men were just, and there was no corruption, I would be as powerful as the Divine Will, and I can't hold that power and be a servant at the same time."

  
  


He licked his lips and looked at her legs, crossed at a graceful, yet awkward angle, "It sounds very complicated."

  
  


She shook her head, sending ripples through the shadow of her hair, "Not really. It all works itself out. What do you think you're in for when you leave here? You will face choices and decisions that are influenced by the Divine and the Infernal. I will battle for your soul, if I win, then you will be more inclined to make the Divine choice. But the choice is yours, hence the joy of a truly free will. And when you are done with this world, and pass on, I told you that I will take you with me to the realm of Spirit, and you will become a guardian. Minor at first, mind you, but time strengthens you, and you leave mortality behind in the wake of the Divine Will."

"But how can I serve the Divine with what I've done?" His violet eyes darkened and his voice softened in shame.

  
  


"That would be your first test," She answered, pulling him close to her, "When you step away from the path to the Divine Consciousness, you will become two creatures. I will have created a Divine Servitor and an Infernal one. You will have to defeat the Battousai, and he will be your antithesis for eternity."

  
  


He looked at her horrified, "I can't do that."

  
  


She smiled, "You ought to see my antithesis. Corruption, who, by the way, will be the creator of Revenge, the Child of Lies, the list goes on. Now he's a terror."

  
  


"Will be?"

  
  


"Well," she said, "What do you think Battousai will be doing with his new place? Just sitting there?"

  
  


"Then you are asking me to be which spirit?"

  
  


She smiled at him and kissed his cheek, "Mercy, I think. Justice should be tempered with Mercy. But mercy in the sense of forgiveness, to keep Justice from becoming revenge in the minds of men, you know, like I was called here for?"

  
  


He looked at her confused again, "I don't understand."

  
  


She kissed him lightly, "You're not supposed to. You know your job when its your job. It's not your job right now. Right now, you are supposed to be living. You've been given such a beautiful gift. This whole place is yours, the sir is yours to breathe, the grass yours to walk upon. You can live and love and hate and grow things and kill them as the sort of divine masters of this world. You have life. Which is a pretty nice gift, if you ask my opinion."

  
  


He touched her face, "Have you ever lived?"

  
  


She shrugged, "If I did, I don't remember it. I've been immortal for so long now, if I had a mortal life, its forgotten. You ever hear of the Picts?"

  
  


He shook his head.

  
  


"The men painted themselves blue with hallucinogenic dyes and ran naked into battle and ate the genitals of the men they killed, at that particular time, the Roman Empire. And you know what? I was immortal then."

  
  


Again, he looked at her horrified, "That's disgusting."

  
  


"It is, isn't it?," She grinned, "But that's part of the joy of life. You can do that. No one tells you to do what you do. You choose. And frankly, the fact that you are free to paint yourself blue and run around naked is pretty nice. Freedom is pretty nice too. He's a little arrogant, but then that's to be expected. Also, it worked. It scared the Romans so bad they built a wall in the hopes of keeping the Picts contained."

  
  


He shook his head, trying not to smile at her, "I wish we could stay here forever. That you didn't have to go and I didn't have to go and that we could just stay here forever."

  
  


Her eyes dimmed slightly, "I know, But I find comfort in knowing that you are coming to me, and not so far away from now as you might think."

  
  


His eyes widened, "You know when I will die? How?"

  
  


She looked away, "I shouldn't have said that. You have to remember that when I say not so far away, my perception of time is different from yours. The passing of a night can be an eternity, and a century can pass in an instant."

  
  


"Yes, But you were talking about my perception of time, you said not so far away as I might think. When? How?" He gripped her shoulders, and felt her flex in preparation to get away from him.

  
  


She tilted her head and a warning tone entered her voice, "These are not things for you to worry about. It will be time when it is time, and no amount of knowledge or preparation will save you from death. You know that. And you don't mean to try to force anything out of me." Her hands pressed against his chest, "Because if you continue this, we can make your time now." 

  
  


He thought that he had to be stronger than she, she was a woman after all, and fairly thin. The fear of death, or the need to survive, he wasn't sure which was which at that point, was overwhelming him, and he knew he wasn't thinking clearly. He released her shoulders, and they sagged as he dropped his hands in his lap.

  
  


She caught his hands and clasped them in her own, and in that instant he knew that she was both stronger than he, and as weak as he was. The air grew colder, and he shivered, the chill before dawn was setting in, and saw the dew collecting around him.

  
  


"Kenshin," She whispered, "I have to go soon. Please don't leave this like this. Don't let this come between us. It's my fault, fear is a cruel creature, and I should have been there to stop it."

  
  


He shook his head, and brought her hands to his lips, they were so warm. "It's almost dawn."

  
  


She smiled, "You've been awake with me through the night. You're tired, and hopefully with good reason."

  
  


"I can't love her," he looked at her, "not like you."

  
  


"You're not supposed to," she answered, rising, and bringing him up with her, "No two loves should ever be the same. Each should be appreciated for the beauty that it is, not compared."

  
  


She dressed him, he protested only briefly, but the feel of her hands on his body warmed him. As she tied his hakama into place, she noticed that she was already dressed, her hair where it was supposed to be, but no armor. Just the big European shirt, the boots, and the tight pants. She rose up from the knee she had taken to tie the knot, and took his face in her hands, "Call me if you need me, and when you have the book."

  
  


He nodded, and felt the brush of her lips against his, a whisper, a touch, and then a breeze. She was gone, and he held a bunch of feathers tightly in his fist. 

  
  


The walk back to the Dojo was long and cold, and he let himself in, looking for the comfort of his room, and a few minutes of sleep before Kaoru came at him with questions. Questions he wasn't ready to answer.

  
  


He settled in his place, next to the screen, and leaned his head against the frame. He inhaled deeply, and could still smell her, them rather, together. He closed his eyes and found sleep.

  
  


********

  
  


Kaoru tied her hakama into place, having every intention of finding Kenshin giving him a piece of her mind. What was so wrong with him that he didn't come back from town. She had found the tofu he left, but where had he been? When had he gotten in? What was wrong?

  
  


Her mind was working in overtime as she crunched across the gravel to his door. She pulled it open, and saw him, he was on his side, and shivering and sweating at the same time.

  
  


"Yahiko!" She screamed, "Get Miss Megumi!"

  
  


********

  
  


Hikari tossed the robe over her shoulders as she walked out of the Roman style bathhouse. Truth waited outside for her, his arms crossed as he leaned lazily against a column.

  
  


"Well, Cairys, did you enjoy yourself? Should we have left you mortal?" His voice was flat, and his displeasure was evident.

  
  


She smiled at him, "Do I hear jealousy, Firrin? Please, she's such a mean little thing, don't bring her here."

  
  


He shook his head, "Did you just not feel like dealing with your infernal counterpart?"

  
  


She shook her head at him, "It was only an instant. One brief passing instant. I'll go trounce him good later, I promise. I'll to a trial or something, provoke a little justice."

  
  


Firrin shook his head, "Maybe we brought you back too soon. I think you still need a rest."

  
  


She shrugged, "Messing around with time was taxing, and its not my fault he didn't forget. That should just reinforce my theory. Besides, he's getting the Druid's book. I'll get him to destroy it and that should be it. Besides. I gave him feathers. The last one that falls will be his last memory of me. He'll forget me soon enough."

  
  


Truth took her hand, "And how many did you give him?"

  
  


She looked down guiltily, "Five."

  
  


"You're not in a hurry for him to forget you, are you?"

  
  


She shook her head, "I didn't realize how he would affect me. I mean, I know we all love mortality, but he's different. He doesn't feel like a child to me, I can't be jealous of him and his free will, I don't understand it."

  
  


He hugged her to him, "Cairys, go get dressed, maybe you can come out with me. A good battle may shake you from this."

  
  


She nodded and pulled away from him, "It's not fair you know."

  
  


Firrin smiled, "Well, make it fair. That's your job."

  
  


She smiled and shook her head at him. It was a joke between them now. Life isn't fair, he would tell her. Well, I just have to make it that way, she would answer. She turned away from him, "I'll meet you when you're ready, troublemaker."

  
  


She walked outside, where everything was suffused with soft golden light. The constant symphonic thrum of the Divine Will offered her comfort. She crossed between buildings and down a path to her own home. It was a sprawling golden structure, like everyone else's. It seemed to grow from the ground itself, and the branches of the trees knitted themselves into elaborate latticework that gave a fragile framework around her windows and doorways. She had no doors and no glass. Everything was open and breezy and in tune with her environment.

  
  


She walked in and dropped the robe, it was caught by a pair of hands that belonged to a divine servitor. He looked after her nude form as she walked past, "Nice to see you back."

  
  


She waved at him, if they had names, they had forgotten them, and as a rule, the servitors shouldn't have individual identities. They looked different and behaved differently, but, in the end, they were all part of the same stuff. They staffed the armies and houses of greater spirits. Cairys's army was particularly impressive, since her battles were usually so messy. They were all easily eight or nine feet tall with white wings and blue skin. Their heads were clean shaven but for long white topknots that flowed out of their helms. They screeched and raged and did all the scary things an army was supposed to do. 

  
  


Another Servitor met her at the doorway to her room, and held out a dress. Good old Greek fashion sense. She slid into it, and looked at the servitor, "Anything interesting?"

  
  


The servitor smiled and shook her head, "Nothing out of the ordinary. Your nemesis hasn't done anything out of the ordinary."

  
  


Cairys nodded, "I wouldn't think so. I hear Farral is otherwise occupied."

  
  


The Servitor bowed her head, "I would have said similarly occupied."

  
  


Cairys cast a look upon the servitor, she started to say something, then stopped. She waved her out of the room and spread her fingers in front of her where a golden globe appeared.

  
  


"Trying to find out what he's up to?" Said a male voice from the balcony.

  
  


She looked out and saw Agape, sitting on the railing, "Maybe."

  
  


"Perhaps I should ask which he?" Agape dropped off the rail and walked into the room.

  
  


"Perhaps I should ask why you are a he today?" She answered, quelling the globe by closing her fist.

  
  


Agape shrugged, "Who knows why I do what I do. I'm also supposed to be blind and surrounded by falling fools. Though I think someone will be jealous to hear about your new mortal lover."

  
  


She rolled her eyes at him, "Why should he be? He has no excuse."

  
  


Agape nodded, "I know, but trust me, he's heard."

  
  


"How?"

  
  


Agape looked at her as seriously as he could, "You'll never guess who is headed for the Bridge as we speak. I think his words were something like 'If she wants him that badly, she can fish him out.'"

  
  


Her eyes widened in surprise, "You can't be serious, I just left him, not an instant ago."

  
  


Agape nodded, "I only tell you because I think you've got a good thing. Strange, but good. You better get going."

  
  


"Shite," she spat the word out as she swept across the room to the balcony, "Tell Truth I had a compelled calling, and tell him it has nothing to do with feathers." She took a few running steps and leapt off the rail of the balcony, snapping her wings out to catch her fall. She took off for the Dawnspire, whose rosy shape glowed in the distance.

  
  


Agape followed, diverting from her path in another direction. Somebody had to stand up for Love, especially when jealousy hung so nearby.

  
  


She flapped harder, and dove toward the Dawnspire, which marked the border of the lands of the living and the spiritual. Souls crossed through it before stepping on the Bridge, and once over the Bridge, they crossed into the Divine Consciousness. 

  
  


*******

  
  


He had been walking for hours. Everything was gray and indistinct. Maybe he was lost. The sky was gray, and the fog made it hard to see. But he saw the road under his feet, and knew that it would eventually lead somewhere.

  
  


There was a vague pinkish light in the distance, and he headed toward that, hoping it was someone who knew the way.

  
  



	3. Unheavenly Heavens

*********

  
  


She streaked through the sky, the soft radiance of the Dawnspire clearing as she passed through the mists. She left a smoky trail behind her as the mists parted for her passing.

  
  


She landed on the Bridge in a great show of flapping wings. She strode past the souls that were crossing and into the tower, where they were being catalogued. She had willed her armor and swords to her in flight, and was a terrifying looking thing as she moved to the cataloguers that sat in the pulpits, watching the souls that crossed. They didn't actually get catalogued, they were more supervised than anything else, but mortality insisted on believing that there was a place for people who had lived wicked lives, so the cataloguers were there, even down to the Christian image of Saint Peter.

  
  


Peter raised a brow as Justice stepped up onto the pulpit with him, "I imagine it must be a serious matter to call a lofty spirit such as yourself down here with the masses. What's happened?"

  
  


"A death that shouldn't have. I want to catch him before he steps on the Bridge." She crossed her arms, and a few of the souls looked her way, some smiling under the belief that they were entering Heaven and there was an angel there, others shied in fear, most likely for the same reasons.

  
  


Peter nodded, "Because he hasn't actually died until he steps onto the Bridge. While he's in the mists, he's still alive in the mortal world. Feel free to look. I trust you wouldn't be here if not to thwart the Infernal."

  
  


She half-smiled at him, "Has he crossed already? You would remember him if you saw him. Few Japanese have red hair."

  
  


Peter shrugged, "Not seen him yet. Rifle through to mortality. I assume you have Firrin's approval?"

  
  


She rolled her eyes, "Firrin may be my problem. Just keep this quiet, will you?"

  
  


Peter nodded solemnly, "Just this once."

  
  


She kissed him on the cheek and hopped off the pulpit, walking against the traffic, moving through the souls, looking for him.

  
  


She passed out of the Dawnspire and back into the mists, ghostly hands touched her, eyes pleaded for answers. They were in the space between life and death, and were confused and scared, or complacent, or dazed. 

  
  


She made her way through the crowds, eventually taking to the air, and making low sweeps over the souls in their crossing. She paused over every redhead, but none of them were the right one. She was terrified that here in eternity, she wouldn't find him in time.

  
  


Just as she shook her head over the irony of that, she spotted him. He was shuffling down the road, looking a little lost. She cursed under breath and dove for him, landing just a few feet in front of him.

  
  


He looked at her in surprise, "Hikari! I thought you had left."

  
  


"I did," she took his hand, "Apparently so have you. Don't ask me any more questions, just hang on to me." She looped his arms around her neck, and placed her hand firmly in the small of his back. She hopped a couple of times, and when she knew he had a good hold, she leapt straight up, and flapped them both into flight.

  
  


He yelled in surprise, and clung to her more tightly, burying his face in her neck. She could feel that he didn't like flying, it scared him. She had never thought about it. She broke through the mists and into the golden warmth, and felt his grip on her relax. 

  
  


He turned his face into the wind, and lost his breath. The scene before his was so awesomely beautiful, he felt Hikari slowing down, and hung on tighter before the landing. He could see vast palaces sprawling over cliffs with waterfalls flowing right through them. Some seemed to be made of jewels or crystals. The Hikari stopped in front of seemed to be three huge trees growing out of the ground, he saw openings and windows and balconies. She set him down on his feet, and strode toward the house, walking right in the front door. He followed hesitantly, "Hikari?"

  
  


She didn't answer him, and as he passed under the arch he was even more awed by what was inside.

  
  


"Take him for a bath and get him changed and cleaned up. If you encounter anything, defend him with your soul," She said to a very tall blue-skinned man with bright white wings. He bowed and walked toward Kenshin, despite his imposing stature, he seemed friendly, and gently guided Kenshin deeper into the tree building.

  
  


Cairys stormed into the council room and opened her hand, creating a silvery wispy circle in the air, "Agape!" She called.

  
  


His face appeared in the mist, "Hi, how are you? I'm fine. Good to talk to you too."

  
  


She sighed, "Who told you?"

  
  


His pleasant face tilted to one side, "Who told me what?"

  
  


"Don't play games with me, Agape. I'm getting very irritated, and I don't know how long I have before I've created a new infernal."

  
  


Agape's jaw dropped, "You actually did it. You took him off the bridge! Where is he? You've hidden him somewhere in the middle realms? No, because you wouldn't worry about creating an infernal unless you had...oh my!" He clapped his hands, "How brave of you!"

  
  


She huffed in frustration, "Agape, cough up the name or you will see the side of Justice that no one likes."

  
  


Seeing that he wasn't going to talk his way around her, Agape hung his head, "So I've been kind of involved with someone who has a good line of Farral. And she says that Farral heard that you had taken a mortal lover. Considering what you did to his last lover, he thought turnabout was fair play. He just had to wait for the opportunity. The man has influenza, in Japan. They don't exactly have a great cure for that. Some survive and some don't."

  
  


"Who is your contact?" Cairys leaned forward, "So I know not to destroy them when I go after Farral."

  
  


"You're not going to destroy Farral, Cairys, you can't. He's your other half. Beat him back from something, but for pity's sake, Cairys!"

  
  


"Who."

  
  


Agape looked down again, "Lust, who else?"

  
  


"How long?"

  
  


"How long for what?"

  
  


Cairys leaned forward, "How long did it take before you separated into Lust and Love?"

  
  


"I don't know, Cairys, we don't exactly have clocks. It wasn't instantaneous or anything. That's all I can tell you. Time doesn't actually pass here," Agape looked concerned. Cairys was angry, and angry people do rash things.

  
  


"Then I guess I had better move quickly," she closed her fist and the mirror dissipated. She got up from the table and in a fury stalked out of the council room. She stormed from the palace, the sound of thunder and a threatening breeze in her wake. The breeze blew across the road and down into the valley, where her army stirred to life. The call to war was quiet, but everyone heard. Thousands of Divine Servitors awoke and made themselves ready.

  
  


Cairys headed for Firrin's palace. If he wanted to join in, he could. But justice must be swift.

  
  


Kenshin, meanwhile, had succumbed to the big blue man's desire for him to bathe, and had even dressed. The new hakama and gi were shades of blue and green, each color fading into the next. He finally mustered the gumption to ask the blue man a question, "Where am I?"

  
  


He answered, "You are in the realm of the spirit, where the servants of the Divine Will live. This place has many names, depending on where you are from. Though Cairys's palace is modeled after Alfheim, of Norse legend. Here, you'll find Olympus, Celestia, Heaven, all the great lofty places where gods have lived."

  
  


"Who are you?" Kenshin asked, walking around the room he had been led to.

  
  


"Oh, I don't have a name. I live in service."

  
  


Kenshin looked at him, a little surprised. The noise of something stirring outside got his attention and he went to the balcony. He leaned out and saw in the courtyard an assemblage of these huge blue people, men and women alike. They were armored and armed for battle, looking very much like an army.

  
  


"What's happening?" Kenshin asked.

  
  


"I imagine that Cairys is going to battle Farral." he sounded so casual about it.

  
  


"Does that happen often?"

  
  


"Frequently enough."

  
  


Kenshin shook his head, he was even more confused now.

  
  


Cairys crossed the threshold of Firrin's palace, "Firrin!" She bellowed his name, storming into his main hall.

  
  


"Good heavens Cariys!" Firrin turned on her, raising a gloved hand, "You sound half mad. What's happening?"

  
  


"Did you have anything to do with the reason I found my mortal about to enter Dawnspire?"

  
  


Firrin's jaw dropped in surprise, "I swear Cairys, you know I can't lie, I had nothing to do with it at all. I'm sorry for your loss." He offered her his hand, hoping to stem off her anger with her grief.

  
  


She swatted his hand away, "It's not lost yet. I'm taking this to Farral. Coming? I could use a spare host."

  
  


Firrin frowned, "I don't know if this is a good idea. Even if you defeat Farral, surely your mortal will have crossed the Bridge by the time you are done."

  
  


"That's hard to do when he's in my bath."

  
  


"Cairys!" Firrin looked at her in shock, "What are you thinking? Are you insane?"

  
  


"Just a touch, Firrin, It was the only way I could buy time to win a battle against Farral for his life."

  
  


Firrin shook his head at her. He had helped to create her, and he had loved her. They were off and on lovers of near epic proportions, their passions were as explosive as their arguments. She had an actual snarl to her lips, but even then, despite her anger, he saw the logic in her argument. If she had gone off to fight Farral, the Spirit of Corruption, then her mortal would have continued on his way, and even if she had won the battle, he would have already died. 

  
  


Farral held claim over the mortal's life, for what reason, Firrin wasn't sure, something that the mortal had done, Cairys's own neglect of her domain, he couldn't tell. Cairys would have to win that from him, and there was only one way that arguments were settled between the Divine and the Infernal.

  
  


"I'll call my host. But only for speed. Finish this quickly Cairys, so that the mortal can be returned."

  
  


"Find Farral. Where is he?" Cairys opened her hand, and the golden globe went dim for not finding her brother.

  
  


Firrin got the same result, "He's blocking us. I'll have to get a few people together."

  
  


"Get Agape. He usually knows where Lust is, and Lust can get to Farral. If nothing else, send Farral a message from me. Tell him he can not have the Battousai, since the soul never made it past the Dawnspire and is held here. Why should I go chase him down? I'll make him come to me. He wants his child to be born of this man's life? He will have to come and rip it from my hands.

  
  


Firrin nodded, "In the fields then? My host will meet yours there."

  
  


Cairys nodded, "Thank you Firrin. I knew you would come through for me." She walked out, and he smiled to himself. He had always had a calming effect on her, except when he was the object of her rage. He realized that her concern for the mortal was more than passion. He was something that Farral wanted, and she, being his antithesis, had to deny him that mortal, whatever the cost.

  
  


Kenshin walked her break the ranks of her army, a flurry of fiery wings and cold rage. Her eyes chilled his spine and turned his stomach to stone, never had he seen anything so ruthless. He listened to her give orders to her army, directing them to a field or something like it and telling them they were meeting with another host. The Goldfire host?

  
  


He saw the army rally to her and raise their weapons in a cheer for the Sweeping Wind Host? He looked at the blue man with no name, "Sweeping Wind?"

  
  


He smiled at Kenshin politely, "It's the only identity we carry. Each host has its own name. Goldfire is Firrin's host. Sweeping Wind is Cairys's. There are others."

  
  


"Firrin?"

  
  


"Gaelic for Truth. Cairys's Father, and occasional lover. He and his lover spawned her and her brother Farral, since that's what happens when an Infernal and a Divine unite. There is a balance. Firrin and his lover were antitheses of each other, Truth and Deception."

  
  


Cairys's voice interrupted the servitor, "Hence the birth of Justice and Corruption. Different unions formed Freedom and Opresion. It's a complicated process. And right now, you're the one in contest."

  
  


Kenshin looked at her, dressed for battle, her voice hard and merciless. "Explain this to me, What is happening?"

  
  


Cairys waved her hand, and they sat at a huge round table that grew out of the floor. The chairs around it grew from the floor also, and Kenshin found himself seated in one. Cairys sat at the head of the table, about three seats away from him. Her face had hard cruel lines that made her beautiful and terrible all at once. She drummed steel fingers on an armrest, and her gaze was baleful, promising death and nothing less.

  
  


Kenshin was utterly terrified, and confused. He shifted around in the new silks, and scratched at his new topknot uncomfortably. His hair had been brushed to the top of his head and fastened there, not unlike when he was the Battousai. But the Battousai was not there to strip him of his fear.

  
  


Cairys leaned forward, "New Divine Agents are crafted by the union of an Infernal and a Divine and they use the soul of a mortal. The mortal's soul is split in two, one divine, one infernal, and the two new agents have some connection to their parents, and their former lives. Farral is my brother, my perfect opposite. He has taken your soul from your body in your moment of weakness. He intends to join with me to birth the Battousai as an infernal agent."

He could only attempt to convey his horror at the idea, he trembled all the way to his eyes, "You aren't going to let him do this." 

  
  


"No," she answered, "Not now anyways. When your time had actually come, I would have done it then. But I was hoping that I could take you into the gray spaces and let your soul split naturally. You could defeat the Battousai, leave him trapped there, and come back here with me. But that wasn't supposed to happen for some time now."

  
  


"I don't know if I can defeat the Battousai," Kenshin said, still pondering the image of his beautiful Hikari in a demon's bed.

  
  


She looked at him, "That is something that we will discuss later. I need to know that you want to live. If you want to continue your mortal life, I will fight for you, and I will win. But if you want to stay, tell me now. Battousai is stifled here, but only for a while. At some point, you will fall to the pain of your soul splitting. I don't know how long it will be, but you will know when it starts."

  
  


Kenshin furrowed his brow at her, "I can't answer that, I don't know. Are you asking me if I want to live or die?"

  
  


Cairys hated his use of those words, she knew what his answer would be, "Essentially, yes. Do you want to live, or do you want to die and stay here?"

  
  


Kenshin looked down, and as he did, a red mist coalesced into a ring in the middle of the table. A dark man appeared, his eyes red with hate, and his teeth black. He grinned eerily at Cairys, "My sister, you save me so much time."

  
  


She raised her head, and if Kenshin thought he had seen hate before, not until he saw her face, "Farral, He hasn't touched the bridge yet. He is not dead, and to kill him, you have to come and get him."

  
  


He looked at her, "I know, it was just so nice of you to ensure that you would both be in the same place. I look forward to dragging you from your haven by your hair. The image of the pain I intend to inflict on you keeps me most amused."

  
  


She didn't even flinch as he implied that he would rape her, though Kenshin felt a welling rage in him as well. She sat back, and looked at the back of her armored hand, "Toad. You have to actually get in here first. Something I think you will not find so easy to accomplish."

  
  


"Aw. What did you do, get daddy to help you? Is Goldfire going to be guarding you? You'll need more than that, you forget I am my mother's son. She supports this decision."

  
  


Cairys scowled at him, "You could have waited. I might have been more amicable to this when his time had actually come, not when you set upon him with your disease."

  
  


He scowled back, "After you had slain the Battousai in his mind? What good would that have done me? You would have just kept the part you wanted, and left no balance."

  
  


She half smiled, "There would have been a balance, if you could fish your precious Battousai from the gray places. But now, there will be no Battousai. There will be no union."

  
  


"Then I will come and take it," he slammed his fist down and the sound crackled across the room.

  
  


"Bring it," Cairys had the upper hand, and she knew it, "If you want him, come and get him."

  
  


The mist faded as Farral growled, "Don't worry, I will, and I come for you too."

  
  


When it was gone, Kenshin could only look at Cairys, if he could, he would have died from fright.

  
  


Cairys looked back at him, and he saw the softness in her eyes, "So, now that you've met my brother, are you ready to meet my parents? Father's an amicable enough fellow, but Mother's a riot with all her wild lies."

  
  


Kenshin blinked and shook his head, "Hikari. This is too much. I'm not ready for all of this, leading an army? All this splendor and servants? I'm a humble person, I don't know if this is the best thing."

  
  


She inhaled, "Then take your time and think about it. I will fight for you. And you will live out your life. She tilted her head, "Kenshin, where are those feathers I gave you?"

  
  


He patted himself down, "I don't know, I'm dying. Why?" Then he heard it, a voice, at first faint, then louder and angry.

  
  


"Hikari! Answer me! Show yourself and answer to me!" 

  
  


It sounded like Megumi, a very angry Megumi.

  
  


Hikari's eyes grew wide, "I'll explain it to her. You keep yourself hidden, and do not talk to anyone who isn't part of my host."

  
  


She felt the pull of the call, and left the palace, leaving Kenshin to ponder his fate in the massive council room.

  
  


*******

  
  


Megumi did as Priest Isao had told her, she dropped the feather on the ground at the shrine and called out to the Kami, "Hikari! I summon you! Hikari! Answer me! Show yourself and answer to me!"

  
  


She huffed her bangs from her face, and glared at the feather. She blinked some sweat away from her eyes, and when she opened them again, there stodd a very impatient looking Hikari.

  
  
  
  
  
  



	4. Soul Battle

"You've got three questions," Hikari said, glaring down Megumi.

Megumi half smiled, "I don't think so. I think you stay until I say you can go."

Hikari shrugged, "And when Kenshin's spirit is taken to the Bridge and he dies while we are chatting it up, you're responsible, and he is mine."

"He'll never be yours!" The shriek came from down the path, but the distance between Kaoru and Hikari closed quickly. Hikari waited, and as Kaoru closed with her bokken overhead, ready to strike, she stepped aside. Kaoru wheeled around and brought the bokken down, only to shatter it against the armor covering Hikari's right arm. Hikari twisted her wrist around and took a firm hold of Kaoru's wrist.

"I have tried with you," Hikari hissed, her fingers tightening, "I'm done with you. Grow up." She threw her to the ground, heartlessly. Kaoru gripped her arm, angry welts showing where Hikari's fingers had bruised her.

"That's not necessary," Megumi said, "I'm sure we can find the name of your superior, and he can compel you. Besides, I don't think we're asking anything unreasonable."

Hikari leveled her right hand at Kaoru and looked down at her, "If you move, if you speak out of turn, I will really be done with you. This is the second time you've attacked me. I think I'm being more than fair."

She looked at Megumi, "As for you, you've already stolen your compulsion, and I do not have the time to waste with you. I'll answer your questions."

Megumi knew that the kami couldn't raise a hand to her, but Kaoru's arrival had complicated things. Hikari held Kaoru hostage, essentially. She took a deep breath, "Where is he?"

"Where did you leave him?" Hikari replied.

"Why won't he wake up?" Megumi rephrased.

"That's a complicated story that has a great deal to do with things from his past, which he should explain to you. The short version is that something tried to end his life prematurely so that they can use him," Hikari relaxed a little.

"You're going to have to do better than that," Megumi answered.

"Fine. My brother wants to use his childhood, which, in Kenshin's mind is a whole separate personality, to create a new spirit. My brother's not the nice, sweet person that I am, and wants the Battousai. Kenshin was already sick, he just took advantage of it and pulled his soul free from his body. I found him before he had made it to the bridge, and now he is under my protection. I can't bring him back, because my brother is the one who took his soul. He has to put it back. So, basically what's going to happen from here is that there is going to be a not so great war, but I'm going to beat my brother and win the right to return Kenshin. If I lose, then It's a very messy conclusion that involves his dying, and some not so nice things happening to me. And that's about it. Can I go?" She sounded almost out of breath.

Megumi took a minute to absorb the information, "So you're trying to save him?"

"Well, yeah, what did you think I was trying to do? Yeesh," Hikari shifted position, and dropped her hand from Kaoru, who had not moved or said anything yet.

"Can we help?" Megumi said.

"I understand that rest and fluids help those who are strong enough to survive influenza. Keep his body safe, I'll deal with his soul," she crossed her arms.

"That's it?" Kaoru asked, then remembered what she had been told, and cringed waiting for the blow.

Hikari looked at her, "That's it for Megumi. I need you to do something else, and not for me. I need you to get that book that was used to bring me here in the first place. You don't remember it, like you don't remember attacking me before now," Hikari went on to describe the man, the location where she had gone to him, and the book.

Kaoru nodded, "I'll get it."

Hikari nodded, "Megumi, call me again when she has it. Now can I go?"

Megumi shook her head, "So all the stuff I thought I dreamed about actually happened?"

Hikari nodded, "I felt bad for taking so much time away from your normal lives, I got a little help, and reset the clock, so that whole thing basically happened in a night. You saw several weeks go by in one night, so your mind either eliminated it, like Kaoru's, or clung to it, apparently like you and Kenshin, as a dream," she shook her head, "I'm sorry it didn't take for you, and I had been planning to deal with that later, in much the same way I was dealing with Kenshin's memory."

"And just how are you doing that?" Megumi asked suspiciously.

"You know those feathers you stole? I has to do with them. Can I go now?"

Megumi sighed, "Fine. You do your part, we'll do ours."

Hikari was gone before she could finish the sentence.

***********

Kenshin shifted around uncomfortably in the chair for a while, trying to absorb everything that was happening.

He couldn't let someone fight his battles for him. Even if this were partially Hikari's battle, he couldn't let her fight it alone. His sword has come with him for a reason, he knew he would have to use it.

He moved out of the council room and followed the ramps and stairs until he found Hikari's room. It was huge and open, and breezy. There was a European style bed in the center of the room, the posts and frame grew as smaller trees out of the floor. As he looked around, everything seemed to grow out of everything else. 

He rested his sword against the bed, and took off the stiff new clothes. They were lovely, but not him. He reached out and pressed down on the bed, and felt a softness, feathers and warmth. Why do Kami need beds if they don't sleep?

He wondered if he needed to sleep now. He sat down on the bed, then laid down, and sighed. What could he do? What was happening? The questions lulled him into relaxation and he only stirred when he felt a shift in the bed and tried to open his eyes.

The light had been dimmed, and was quiet and rosy, like sunset. He blinked a couple of times and saw that a shape was sitting next to him, cross-legged on the bed.

"Hikari?"

"Feeling overwhelmed yet?" She answered.

"Is Megumi okay? And Kaoru?"

"They'll be fine. How are you feeling?" He felt her hand touch his arm.

"I don't know. Scared, I think," he placed his hand over hers, "What happened to the light?"

"Oh, I drew the shades, I thought you might not be used to it yet."

He shook his head, "No, I like the light, it makes me feel safer."

"Oh," she waved her free hand, and shades drew themselves aside for the light, "That I can understand." She brought her hand to rest on her knee, and used it to brace herself as she leaned forward, "You know, you should be scared. So am I. I don't like this."

"You don't like it? I'm the one who's dying. And what happens when my soul tries to split?" He pulled himself up on his elbows to look at her. She had no topknot, no formality to her.

"I don't know. I'm hoping we can pull this off before then," she whispered.

"We?" He asked, "Will you let me help you?"

She smiled down into the mattress, "You're developing a little of the empathy, I heard your thoughts. You can't let me do this alone, and frankly, I don't think it's fair to deny you the right to have a hand in your own fate."

He looked at her, and noticed that he could hear her thoughts too, as well as other thoughts. The whole thing came together in this quiet chorus that seemed to be constantly playing in the background, "You hear that all the time?"

She nodded, "It's really beautiful. I like to lay here and just listen to it sometimes."

He turned over on his side, "Come here"

She stretched her legs out and lay down beside him, facing him, "Just close your eyes, and where you used to hear your heartbeat, listen to the song. When you've been doing it long enough, you can pick out individual voices, like I can find yours."

Kenshin looked down the line of her body, "I hope I won't be learning to do that for a while yet."

She tipped his chin up to meet her gaze, "You won't, not if I have anything to do with it."

He smiled at her, "It is nice here. I like visiting, and maybe someday I'll stay. But I miss home."

"Wow," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, "That's still a funny word to you, isn't it? It's been a while since you've had a home."

He nodded, "It has, that's why I miss it so much. What did Megumi want?"

"Exactly what I knew she would want, she wanted to know what had happened to you, to hold me responsible, the usual. Kaoru is fine, by the way, a little bruised, but I tried not to hurt her."

"Kaoru?" He sat up on an elbow, and Hikari rolled onto her back.

"She tried to attack me by surprise, I didn't hurt her. I didn't want to , but I'm getting impatient with her," She sighed.

Kenshin shook his head, "She's just doing what she knows how to do. When she feels powerless, she gets violent. She feels powerless a great deal. I think I cause much of her distress."

"Yeah, well you cause much of mine too, part of the torture of love," she stretched her back and legs.

"Speaking of which," said a voice from the balcony. Agape swept in, a broad smile across the androgynous face.

Hikari threw a protective arm across Kenshin, "Agape! Really! No privacy?"

He shook his head and climbed up to sit on the foot rail of the bed, "Oh but I do like your taste. Very pretty."

"Agape, meet Kenshin Himura, Kenshin, meet Agape, or, what you call Love, " Hikari rolled off the bed and threw a robe around herself, "What do you need Agape?"

Agape winked at Kenshin, "Not that I can blame your taste in women either. I like the dark-haired mistress theme."

Kenshin sat up all the way and looked at the strange looking spirit on the end of the bed, "What do you mean?"

Agape shrugged, "Tomoe first, but that was kind of messy, then Kaoru, and our own Hikari here. All dark haired. I like a man who knows what he likes."

"How do you know that?" Kenshin asked.

"Because I'm love, and I like to take care of my colleague there. I just did a little checking up. Nothing big or important, and nothing outside of my realm," the kami looked at Hikari.

"Kenshin, don't worry about it. We don't have many secrets here. If you're feeling self conscious, you ought to see what Agape there is entangled with when he's not nosing around me and Firrin," Hikari held a robe out to him, since he was looking a little uncomfortable.

Kenshin took the robe from her and looked back at Agape, "Have you seen Tomoe? Where is she? Is she here?"

Agape shook his head, "No, she took the good deal. Hear that choir? Her voice is in there. And you know, she loved you when you were particularly difficult to love. Her mistake was that she tried to change you, instead of letting you change yourself. If you're well-behaved, I'll explain Kaoru to you also."

"Agape, why are you here?" Hikari interrupted.

"Because you said you wanted regular reports, and I thought I would ask if you needed a third host. You're fighting this for love after all, I thought maybe it would be worth the while," it rocked back and forth on the bed rail, watching Kenshin.

"Are you serious?" Hikari asked, "Are you willing to blow the dust off of Heartsblood and call them in?"

"Blow the dust off?" Agape looked at Hikari, a little insulted, "You know I'm a lover, not a fighter. Besides, very few major causes are for love anymore. I mean my one big shining moment was the Trojan War, that, and few of the skirmishes between Rome and Egypt. Trust me, They'll work just fine, if you'll take them."

Hikari nodded, "I'm glad for the help. Farral has back up too, and so I can use all the help I can get."

Agape shrugged, "Then I'll see you when I see you. Farral's on the move, but they haven't even gotten close to the chasm yet, and yours and Firrin's hosts are ready. I'll send mine to meet them. I'm sure you and your friend here can continue to be friendly for a while. You'll know as soon as they reach the chasm." He bounced off the rail and ran off the balcony.

Kenshin shook his head, "Was that a male or a female?"

Hikari climbed back onto the bed, "Neither and both."

He blinked at her.

"Listen," She scooted closer to him, "If you want to go in with me, you can't cripple yourself. You can read people, I've seen you do it. You tried to read me, but you got stuck. Since then, you haven't tried to read anyone. You spent all that time learning to predict people and now you can't?"

Kenshin dipped his head, "You think different from me, so, I assume, would everyone else here."

She shook her head, "Not really, you just have to know how to find what you're looking for. Listen to that choir, that's your key."

He raised his head at her, "Really?"

She nodded, "It's that simple, you hear the choir, because they will telegraph their intentions that way. Agape wasn't delivering a report, and I know exactly where Farral and his army are. The choir tells me. Try it, try to see if you can see what I'm thinking. Just listen."

She sat still and looked at him, and he returned the gaze, he concentrated on the choir, and it became louder, and then very clear, he gasped at her. "Hikari! You have some very unclean thoughts."

"Oh come on, I have a bunch of those, find something else. This was so easy for you when it was just you and me," She still looked at him.

He filtered through the sounds, then he saw it, he saw the chasm, and knew what it was, he saw the fields, where a third army was amassing with the other two, "I can see it."

"Right, the chasm and the fields and caverns are the borderlands. There are two neutral places, where none are dominant. The other is the Gray Places. The Fields are on our side of the Chasm, the Chasm is the border, and the Caverns are on their side of the border. And frankly, we need to get moving. We've got some Oni to pummel." She rolled of the bed, pleased that he could find the filter and see what he needed to see. 

"So I can use Hiten Mitsurugi through this?" He got to his feet, and pulled his hakama on over his loincloth.

She was rifling through her wardrobe, "You can, all the way through. Though I warn you, that we're in danger of your soul splitting. The neutral ground will give the Battousai the freedom he needs to try and escape. He can't manifest without my consent, but you can't manifest without Farral's. All of that is assuming I don't do what I mean to do. If Farral is finished, I'll claim your life, and Battousai or not, you're going home."

"What happens if my soul splits?"

"You ever see a ghost? You get shunted, there is no place for a ghost here or in the Infernal or the Divine. Ghosts are detached souls, usually those that died violently or prematurely, and they usually get confused and wander off into the Gray Places on their own. There, they get lost, and wind up back in the mortal realm, just without a body. If there isn't a victor, you can't be claimed, because I won't give consent for the Battousai, and he won't voluntarily give up his claim on your life. If I beat him, then I get the prize."

"Why do you say if? You've fought him before, haven't you? Haven't you beaten him?" Kenshin realized why the silks were so stiff, there were tiny metal filaments woven into the fabric, creating a kind of armor for him.

"I've never actually sought to destroy him," Hikari flexed her fingers inside the armor.

"You can't kill him, he's your brother," Kenshin slid his sword into the obi.

Hikari didn't answer, but Kenshin heard her in the choir, she believed that if she didn't finish her brother now, then this would continue.

"But what about the balance?" Kenshin asked.

"Corruption exists without any help from any of us. Men created it and are created by it. As far as an actual spirit for it, well, I hear Shishio is free," She looked slyly over her shoulder at him.

He shook his head, and saw that she was as right as he could imagine. There would be time for a new spirit to be created later, and the time would let him live his life without further spiritual interference. He looked at her, the red battle skirt slit up both sides with her swords on either hip. One heavily armored arm, one with only the bracer, the open faced helm, her hair rippling around her from the topknot, her wings stretching impatiently as she began to prepare herself.

"Are you ready for this Hikari?" Kenshin asked, moving across the floor to her.

"As ready as I'll ever be. Follow me," She turned for the balcony and hopped up on the rail. She threw something in the air, and a red flash went off, like a firework. This was followed by two more flashes. She turned back to face Kenshin, "Well, Come on, you have to learn to fly. The Chasm doesn't have a floor, you know. Just jump, you'll take care of the rest."

She leapt off into the air. When she got control. She wheeled around the balcony in circles, waiting.

"What's the worst that can happen?" he heard on the wind, "You'll die. Since that's not going to happen, jump already, I don't have all day."

He took a deep breath and jumped, and didn't feel himself fall at all. When he opened his eyes, he was hovering over the balcony rail. The choir explained it to him, and he looked at Hikari and willed himself to stay close to her.

"Good job smart guy, now just try and keep up," She rolled and dove and took off for the horizon.

The ground passed underneath him at a blinding rate, he saw figures rise up from palaces, two more, that rose to join them. One of them was Angelo, who had come to take Hikari back from their first meeting. The other was Agape. The three couldn't have looked more different. 

Hikari slowed the pace so they could match speeds, "Firrin! So good of you to join us, and all dressed up. Did you wear that for me?" She batted her eyelashes at him and tapped on his golden armor, some of it chain and some of it plate. She rolled over on her back and ruffled Agape's hair. She seemed almost giddy.

"Of course Cairys, you know I want to steal you away from your mortal, that's why I dress up for you. That, and I don't like pulling arrows. I know I won't die, but they hurt a great deal," Firrin turned his head to look at Kenshin, "Are you sure its wise to bring him with you?"

Hikari dropped her head back and looped downward, righting herself and flapping back into line with Firrin, "Frankly Firrin, it would be unjust to deny him the chance to win his own soul. Besides, I like to see what I'm fighting for." She turned her head and wiggled her fingers at Kenshin, who could only look at her. How could she bee so cheerful at a time like this.

Agape dropped back to match speeds with Kenshin, "Battlelust," he said.

Kenshin looked at him, he looked distinctly male in the brown and golden leathers with a longbow and quiver in hand, "What?"

"You were wondering why she acts like this, it's just battlelust. She's been doing this for so long, she enjoys the work. Besides, no one ever really dies in these battles. You feel increasing pain each time you get hit, and eventually, when it should kill you, its hurts so much you can't move. You stay like that until the horn is sounded, and the horn is sounded when there's a clear victor. It's all very neat and nothing like what you're used to. We don't want to kill each other, this is just how we settle our differences." Agape raised his chin to point to a swelling army in the Fields.

"Kenshin nodded, "I see them," he tried to listen to the choir, to hear Hikari, but he heard Firrin's thoughts instead. His face screwed up, "I don't think I trust Firrin."

Agape smiled, "Really, how can you not? He's Truth, after all, it's not like he can lie to you."

"He doesn't like me much at all. He doesn't think I should be here," Kenshin muttered, his words almost whipped away by the wind.

Agape smiled, "Truth isn't always right. But Truth is always honest. We don't have a lot of mortal souls running around with us. You'll have to be patient with him. Though, just in case you don't get out of this, Kaoru does actually love you, But she won't say anything because you won't say anything. She's a hopeless romantic, frankly and firmly believes that because you are the man, you make the moves and she just sits there and is subjected to whatever treatment you hand her. Frankly, I find that Japanese methodology appalling, but, like all good things in this world, I'm Greek by nature, and Greek women are difficult to compete with."

"Like Helen of Troy?" Kenshin asked as they started their descent.

"Exactly. She was strong-willed and beautiful. There was no meekness to her, and she didn't brook much in the way of mistreatment. Unlike Japanese women, she understood that men are temporary, it's women who are eternal."

Kenshin didn't know how to answer that, and instead concentrated on not making a complete fool of himself in his landing. He figured out that he could just drop on his feet. Hikari and the others skidded into their landings, digging up trenches in pairs.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Hikari looking out over the valley, "Scared yet?" She asked.

"I was scared from the moment I met you, and I have only felt safe when I'm with you," he answered. He put his hand over hers, "Did you not tell them what you're doing?"

"She shook her head. Firrin has probably figured it out by now, but he won't interfere. He may scold me like his child, but he knows I make good decisions, even when they seem wrong on the surface. He trusts my judgment. So should you, Doubting Thomas."

She pulled on him and he leaned back into her, feeling her closeness, "So what do we do now?" She looked over his head into the valley, now dark with the gathering host.

"We wait. Have something to eat. Farral will be along soon. He'll send his negotiating party over, we'll set the rules, Then we'll get started, why?" She hugged him to her, burying her nose in his hair.

"It just sounds very organized, that's all," He answered.

"It is, we aren't uncivilized," she was talking into his hair, "we've been doing this since there was something worth fighting over. This is, in very large part what we do. Not always on this scale; sometimes one on one, sometimes in handfuls. It just depends."

"It seems like a great deal of fuss over someone like me. Overkill I might say," He felt a twinge in his chest, the scale of the battle unnerved him.

"Not really. How many mortal souls do you think we get to fight over live and in person? Besides, you mean more to me than all of this. I hope I've at the least proven that much to you. I will literally go into the maw of hell itself to find you. I'll always be with you, even if you aren't with me," she pulled his bangs back, which caused his head to tip upward to face her. She bowed over him and kissed his forehead.

He turned around in her arms and hugged her to him, "People don't say things like that to me."

"Where you come from, people don't say things like that at all. If you would stop with all the secrecy, things would be much less complicated. Besides, sometimes, your people let their actions speak more than their words," She pointed into the valley, where another host was massing, looking very much like samurai, banners flapping thunderously in the wind, "Guess some of the ancestors heard what was going on."

Kenshin pulled away from her in amazement. He hadn't seen an army massed like that in years. He held onto her hand, then let go, his hand instinctively going for his sword. He could probably isolate some of the commanders and finish them off. He shook his head against a buzzing noise that rattled into his eyeballs. He dropped into a crouch and started to pick out the commanders.

"Oh no you don't," a firm hand closed around the Battousai's collar and lifted him from the ground, "None of that here."

He looked at her, more in surprise than anger, and pushed his sword forward. "Put me down."

She looked at his hand, "You just try it. Besides, you can't kill with that sword, blade's on the wrong side. Give it up. I'm stronger than you.

He swung anyway, and as he predicted, she dropped him. He was not prepared when she grabbed his wrist and brought it behind his back. The next thing he felt was her knee between his shoulder blades, and a steel cold edge along his throat. He sputtered his surprise, and the dirt from teeth, "Release me, or you will die."

"Yeah, and who and what army is going to accomplish that? Calm down Battousai. This is not your place, nor your time. Go back where you belong, or I'll send you there." She drove her knee down harder to prove her point.

She felt him relax underneath her, and tipped her head around, "Look at me." She looked at his face, every muscle still poised on him.

He opened his eyes, "Hikari, get off of me please?" 

"Kenshin. Don't do that again. Pay attention to what you're thinking. He almost won," She stood up and offered him her hand, "Yellow eyes? Really Kenshin, was he so dramatic?"

Kenshin blinked at her, checking to make sure that he had control again, "I'm sorry. I'll be more careful."

She grinned, "It's okay. Come on, old man, I feel like eating, and drinking and then telling them exactly what its going to cost them to lose this battle." She put her arm around him, picking up both their swords with one hand. When he turned with her, he saw a huge dark blue pavilion, trimmed in gold, with soldiers on either side of the opening. They pulled the flaps aside for the pair, and Kenshin was even more surprised by the interior.

Braziers lit the interior, and a massive table sat in the center, laden with food. The smells were foreign but enticing, a complete lack of fish and rice. The table was high, and surrounded by huge chairs. There were curtained off sections on either side. He looked at Hikari, who took the seat at the head of the table again, and picked up a loaf of bread. When she broke it, Kenshin saw the steam rise from it, and couldn't resist the urge to sit beside her.

"Here, try this," she said, holding out a bite-sized piece of the bread. He reached to take it with is hands, and she pulled it away, Nuh uh, come here." She smiled at him as he leaned forward. She touched his lips with the bread, and he obligingly received it. It was sweet and buttery.

"What is this?" he asked, chewing thoughtfully.

"Egyptian. Also my inspiration for the dates, spiced meats, and flatbreads, though the Hebrews are more responsible for that."

"Can I feed you?" He asked, excited by the reaction it had provoked in him. When she nodded, he looked around on the table for something. He found a bowl of what looked like black rice and held it up, "What is this?"

"Wild rice. Not all countries have your climate, you know. Try some, "She said.

He continued to look around, and found some melon. He picked up a piece of melon and held it out to her, "Your turn."

She leaned forward and bit into it, he felt the fullness of her lips around his fingers. He leaned forward, fascinated by the action. When she pulled away, he saw the juices of the melon pinking her lips, and closed the distance, kissing away the melon to get to the fruit.

She pulled away, turning her head, "Not now. As much as I would like to. Please, have mercy on me."

He looked at her confused, "Is something wrong?"

She shook her head, "Not right now, but I might have to quell you again. Don't make me hesitate, don't give me any more reason to hesitate. Because I know you, and by knowing you, I know Battousai. Half a breath of opportunity, and he will take advantage. I can not give you that breath. Just trust in me, and listen to the choir."

She got up from the table, no longer interested in eating, and walked out to the entrance. She said something to one of the guards and turned back around.

Kenshin looked at her in disbelief, in all truth, he had never actually been rejected before. Disbelief quickly became anger. Everything seemed so very on edge. He watched her lean out of the entrance, and when she turned around, he had closed the distance.

She was, face to face with Battousai, she saw it. There was nothing there, he looked to her very much like a hollow puppet.

"Half a breath," he hissed at her.

"Inhale or exhale?" she asked, regaining her composure quickly.

He licked his lips, "Which ever one I want." He tipped his head toward the interior of the tent, "Move."

She held up her hands in a sign of surrender, and opened her mouth to speak. But it wasn't a word that came from her mouth, the force of the Divine Choir rolled over him, a thunderclap in his ears. He dropped his sword and grabbed his ears, dropping to his knees with a scream.

To have caused that pain killed her inside, and she immediately regretted the action. She overcame her instinct to help him, to relieve his pain, but he wouldn't have been in pain if Kenshin were in control. She stepped over him and sat back down in her chair. She crossed her legs and looked at him, waving away the food dismissively.

"What have you done to me!" He cried, clutching his ears and grinding his teeth.

"The only relief you will find is in surrender." She had to speak to his mind, since he was deaf now, "Relinquish to Kenshin, and your pain stops. If you rise again, the pain starts again. I will brook no more interference from you. Your place can be rightfully won by your champion. You will not use his form to take advantage. Back down."

Firrin walked in on the heels of the thunderclap, and saw the scene, "Cairys! What happened?"

She shook her head at him, "Nothing much. An impudent child who didn't get what he wanted, but more than he asked for."

He looked at the mortal doubled over, clutching his ears, grinding his teeth, and trying desperately not to weep from the agony. He shook his head, "You shouldn't have brought him. He can't give you what I can. He can only take what you give him."

She rolled her eyes at him, "Firrin. The other soul was trying to break out. The Word was the only way I could stop him. He'll be fine, as soon as he surrenders. Really, now is not the courting time. Are they coming yet?"

Firrin nodded, "Farral didn't get the backing he thought he would. He has only one host with him. You have four. The leader of the Ancestors would like to speak to you, by the way, he's outside."

Hikari nodded, "Then I guess I need to put the child in Time Out until I can deal with the man." She spoke to Kenshin's mind as well as out loud to Firrin.

Firrin nodded and walked out, and Hikari looked at Kenshin, crumpled on his knees, "Give up yet?"

She heard the Battousai spit out through gritted teeth, "Only for now. You are already dead."

She shook her head and said back to him, "No kidding. Tell me something I don't know. Begone before I banish you for real."

She watched the shaking subside, and eventually he relaxed and sat up, "Hikari? How did I get here? I was in that chair."

She shook her head, "Don't ask. But get yourself together, and get ready to meet Tokugawa Ieyasu. He's waiting outside."

Kenshin turned toward the entrance, brushing himself off. He picked up his sword and slid it in its sheath, preparing to hit his knees. Hikari whistled, and the flaps turned aside and a tremendously tall man in great gleaming armor strode in. Kenshin dropped to his knees and bowed. His dislike of the Shogunate was overshadowed by the presence of this spirit. This spirit had unified Japan. Ieyasu looked down at the man who bowed beside him, "So it's true, Justice, you favor one of mine."

She bowed at the waist, "Always a pleasure to entertain you with my antics, Ieyasu-san."

Kenshin sat up and looked at Hikari, she had just called Japan's first Shogun her peer. He started to shake his head until he noticed the man's attention on him. He looked down at the floor.

Ieyasu chuckled and moved to sit down, "Does he do anything other than kneel there?"

Hikari looked the Shogun in the eye, "You should know full well what he's capable of. You're here to lay a claim aren't you?"

Kenshin looked at Hikari, his jaw dropped in surprise as he shifted his gaze between the two.

  
  



	5. Dark Tides

Kaoru sat in front of Megumi, breathless, clutching the leather book which frankly, smelled strange. Megumi held out her hand for the book, "How did you get it?"

She shook her head, "Don't ask, and don't tell anyone. What's so special about it anyway?"

Megumi took the book and flipped through the pages, "These are some kind of rituals or something, but they don't make any sense. I can't read the whole thing, there's these strange characters in here."

Kaoru leaned over and looked at the pages, there were strange pictures of people with the heads of animals, and Japanese was mixed in with the strange characters that no one could have read. "I don't understand. But I don't know if I care. Call the kami back so we can get Kenshin back."

Megumi shook her head, "Actually, I want to take this to the priest first. Maybe he can figure it out. I don't want to give this to her until I know she can't use it against us."

Kaoru looked at her thoughtfully, then nodded, "Let's go then."

*******

Tokugawa Ieyasu Looked at Kenshin, and then back at Hikari, "I have a proposal that you might find mutually agreeable. It keeps the part of his soul that you do not care for out of the hands of Farral, and gives me something interesting."

Hikari's face softened a little as she leaned forward, "You've perked my ears so far, what interest would the Ancestors have in Battousai?"

Ieyasu looked at her approvingly, "I always think Western spirits are most amusing. You are not unattractive, even by my standards, but don't think anything but business here."

Hikari's brow knitted, then relaxed, "But Ieyasu-san, don't yo understand? In this situation, this is business. I'll ask you again, and ask that you not provoke me further. An entire nation found your force irresistible, I would hate to see the same thing happen to me that has happened to Japan." Her words were biting, though Ieyasu showed no reaction, Kenshin slowly began to realize what they were doing.

Ieyasu continued, "Battousai is already a legend, a ghost story told to scare children. We already have a claim. I'm willing to make the agreement with you that allows you to make use of what's left."

Kenshin couldn't help but feel insulted, and stood , moving beside Hikari, "I apologize, but if we are going to negotiate for my soul, I would like to be involved."

Hikari looked at Kenshin, "He's offering to take Farral's place, and take control of Battousai. It's a legitimate argument. The Ancestors are neutral, and only really battle amongst themselves for fun. Mostly, they stay very concerned with whatever they started with their mortal lives, watching it come to fruition and die. The ancestors are legendary people. Ieyasu is leading this contingent of Ancestors to tell me that there is a place for Battousai there. Now, what I'm curious about is what's going to happen when I tell Ieyasu that he will have to wait."

She turned her head to look at him, and Ieyasu shook his head, "Now is as good a time as any. He knows he was going to die, now or later makes no difference."

"But it makes all the difference. If you had died much earlier Ieyasu, you would be in that choir, having started nothing. Perhaps Takeda Shingen would have been first Shogun? Let the mortal live his life. It costs yo nothing. You're not going anywhere are you?" 

Kenshin interrupted, "I beg your pardon, but I do want to live as long as I can. Hikari has explained to me that this way is not the right way, and if and when I do this, I want it to be done the right way."

"Hikari?" Ieyasu repeated, "Who is Hikari?"

Kenshin brightened, "Sogasu Hikari, Tokugawa-sama, is the same person you call Cairys."

Ieyasu brightened, "You took a Japanese name?"

Hikari shrugged, "He gave it to me, I like it. Why not keep it?"

Ieyasu looked back at Kenshin and nodded in approval, "It is a good name. But I do not understand why we should wait."

"I do not understand how so many people with eternity literally on their hands can be so impatient for my death," Kenshin said, his frustration showing.

Hikari looked back at him, casting a warning glance, and he heard in his mind, "If Battousai takes over, you will only know the pain again. I bought myself some time, but cost myself some energy for the upcoming battle."

Kenshin nodded, and swallowed his frustration, which only provoke the Battousai to rise again. It was getting harder. He tried to hear the choir, and after a few minutes, felt the warm humming in his chest.

"He does have a point, Ieyasu. Time matters to mortality. It shouldn't matter so much to us. Be patient. Your offer is a good one, and one I will gladly accept, when the time comes. I look forward to it, actually." Hikari smiled, and the room seemed to lighten.

Ieyasu shook his head, "You will not be moved?"

Hikari continued to smile, "I'm sorry, but no."

Ieyasu sighed, "Then we will observe. If you lose, we will intervene."

Her smile faded and she tipped her head back, "That, is a very wise proposal. I accept your terms. If I lose, you intervene and lay your claim. Farral will most certainly be too weak to muster for a second battle, especially with so fierce an army as yours. It would be an easy victory for you."

He nodded, and Kenshin felt the relief in Hikari. Kenshin didn't entirely understand the deal, but it more or less mean that if Hikari lost, it wasn't actually a loss. His darker half would not be bound into service under the infernal Farral. He watched the Shogun stand and leave, his work being done.

Kenshin looked at Hikari, "And now?"

Hikari smiled, "Now, we settle the terms. I'm thinking we settle this host to host, Firrin and Agape become observers, witnesses. And we finish it off with a duel, just me and him, one on one. That's when I'll make my move to destroy him."

Agape's voice sounded from the opening, "And just when were you going to tell us about your plans?"

Hikari nodded, "About now. Though I'll need Firrin to do it. He's Farral's father, and it takes two of us to do it."

Agape sat down, "No kidding. Are you sure this is what you want to do?"

"If I don't," Hikari motioned for Kenshin to sit down beside her, "Kenshin will never know the peace of his mortality. Any time his body weakens, Farral will steal his soul. I'll be wasting more time chasing down one man's soul when I could be wasting my time saving the many."

Kenshin sat down, "I don't know how much I can do this. This is all very confusing. I understand that I'll understand it later, but I'm not ready to do that yet."

Hikari nodded, "Besides, three or four of these, and I'll get tired of it. I'm Justice, not Patience."

"Who says hello, by the way," Agape interjected, "I'm not saying I disagree with you, And I'm not concerned about finding a replacement, there are plenty of those to go around. I'm just worried if you can do it. Farral's nothing to be trifled with."

"I know," Hikari said, "But Sun Tzu even wrote that the army with the noble cause carries victory in its heart. How much more noble can I get here?"

Agape shrugged, and Kenshin looked at Hikari, a little surprised that she knew Sun Tzu. "Hikari," he said, "I get the feeling this is more difficult than you've implied."

Hikari nodded a little, "We are talking about killing my own brother here, literally. Not just play killing, actually destroying him." Just as she finished the sentence, an angry hiss and curl of smoke surrounded a piece of paper that appeared on the table. Hikari leaned forward, "The first set of terms from Farral."

Agape leaned over, "He just wants to go straight out. His force against yours, no one holding back except the Ancestors. I take it they've already talked to him."

Hikari sighed, "He's planning something. But you can't send terms of battle with deception in them. You do your deceiving on the battlefield, not in the rules. If he wants these odds, he's got something going."

Firrin walked in then, "He does. He got the help he wanted, just not the way we would think. It's going to take three of ours to finish one of his."

Firrin cut a tall dashing figure in his golden armor. His wings weren't feathered, they looked like rays of light, surrounding him in a nimbus of warm light. His face was stern and pinched, and he looked at his daughter with all the severity of a father, "When were you going to tell me?"

Hikari sighed, "If you refuse, I can't do much about it."

Firrin shook his head, "You're right. You usually are. A habit I find bothersome. I'll give you the opportunity, if we can get past his host."

"We can. Just because he strengthened what he already had doesn't make him unstoppable. It just makes my case for me. If he keeps this up, he will be unstoppable. I can't fight him off for all of eternity, and I'm not going to waste time with it. If we go in, we finish it," She watched the paper bubble and melt into a brackish ichor on her table.

Kenshin listened to the resolve in her voice, and was finally beginning to understand justice and his role in the mortal world. For just a moment, he saw that justice was about doing what was right, not what you wanted to do. He may never escape battles, may never know peace, but he had to do what was right. He looked at Hikari, saw all those complexities in her, and how man had made her into what she was. Justice was a woman because men had made her fickle and wild and unpredictable yet solid, clear, and predictable all at once. Man's idea of justice was full of contradictions, so, Hikari was contradictory too.

Firrin smiled, listening to the choir and hearing Kenshin's thoughts, "I think you're coming close to making sense of it."

Kenshin looked at him, a little surprised, "It is you who are the real riddle, sir."

Firrin shook his head, "Not really, I'm so very not a riddle, that it seems confusing. Especially to a people whose social order depends on masks of complacency in the face of emotional circumstances. Either way, are you ready? While you were mulling, the terms have been set. Farral insists that you be there, since he believes he is going to defeat Hikari, he would like you close at hand."

Kenshin knit his brow, "But I don't kill."

Hikari smiled, "No, but you hit good. If you can put them down, they'll stay down."

Kenshin sighed, but felt the warmth of resolve run through him, "Besides, when you win, I'll be close by, and we can go straight home."

Hikari nodded, and stood, "Shall we then?" She didn't seem as cheerful as she had before. The lines of her resolve pinched around her mouth, and her jaw was set tightly. The others rose and nodded. They left, Hikari almost on their heels when she stopped and turned on Kenshin, "No matter how this goes..."

Kenshin shushed her with a finger over her lips, "You have to do things you don't always want to do. I've learned that. There isn't gratitude in me to show you how much of it I feel. Let's just do this together, ne?"

Hikari bit down on lips and nodded, "Remember me when it matters, Shinta."

Kenshin blinked a little, she hadn't called him by that name since he gave it to her. He took hold of her hand, wrapping his fingers in the soft leather of the glove, and led them both outside, "Is this how you keep your hands from getting calloused?" He said, trying to change the subject as he held up her hand.

She shrugged, her breathing had slowed, and she wasn't looking at him or at anything else, "Listen," she whispered.

In the distance, the ancestors beat war drums, and the divine chorus matched the rhythm. Kenshin felt it like a heartbeat, and nodded.

She didn't say anything else until they got into the valley. The strategy talks were complicated, and drawn out, but there was an intent behind them. Kenshin only really paid attention when Hikari looked at him and said, "Stay close to me."

"Hikari, I don't think I need you to be worried about protecting me as well as doing what you need to," Kenshin said.

She shook her head, "I need you to protect me. Farral does not like to play by the rules. That's sort of the point."

Kenshin bowed his head, "I'm sorry. I will be there when you need me."

There was a great production of armies assembling in their places, and a tremendous sense of anticipation filled the air. Hikari drew both of her swords and swung around in a few practice swings. He watched her bounce on her toes a little, and breathe deeply and slowly. The sound broke across the sky like rain, the horn sounded, and a great thunderous beating filled the air.

Agape's troops, looking very Spartan, were beating on their shields. Hikari's troops filled the air with a rising chant. Firrin's troops beat armor to armor and chanted, it was all very intimidating, while Farral's contingent was disturbingly quiet.

After the charge was sounded, the whole thing erupted. It was as if the entire ground had swelled up and spat out warriors onto each other. Hikari moved through her ranks with the ease and comfort of someone who knew her troops. Kenshin knew that she was making her way to her brother, and only hoped Firrin would meet them there in time. He moved with her, feeling the rhythm of her body as she virtually danced through her troops toward the front line.

It was a spray of gore that caught his attention, and a blackish creature fell at his feet, with hooves for feet and a scorpion's tail. A broad sword that looked more like a hatchet than a sword lay on the ground near its hand. It reached out for it, and Kenshin brought his sword down to crush its fingers.

Hikari had waded into the battle, her swords moving in perfect tandem through the masses of black and corrupt looking creatures. She whirled and danced through the first ranks, clearing a path. They pressed closer, and she showed brute force, cutting through one of the creatures and then through his tail, emitting a spray of red blood and milky white poison. She spat the blood and poison to the side, and Kenshin could only move with her. He practically couldn't move his sword without hitting something. A fierce sting into his back caused him to cry out, as the press continued. Hikari turned to see one of the infernals pulling his stinger away. She raised her armored fist and spoke. Kenshin felt the spray of gore was the wave of force passed through him and into its intended target. The press of bodies was too much, and she spoke again, this time calling down the rolling thunder of the divine choir. The area cleared around them and she gripped his shoulder, "Come on."

Kenshin looked at her, the poison burning hot in his body. He straightened, and moved forward. As they closed in on the next wave, he felt a hand in his back, and a coolness relieved his pain. He looked back at Hikari, who pulled her hand away and took hold of the sword in her other hand. She had such long fingers, he thought, as he turned into the wave of creatures.

The two cut a swath, foul and corrupt creatures fell before them like sheaves of wheat, and, after what seemed like many hours, they broke the ranks and slowed to catch their breath. The sound of arrows screaming down from the skies and metal on metal on flesh drowned out the divine choir.

The chasm yawned before them. The dark and hulking for of Farral loomed in front of them. Hikari straightened, and snapped out her wings, the sound was like a lightning strike, "Farral!" she yelled, "Let's finish this!"

The chasm was the breach between worlds, the infernal battlegrounds lay just on the other side, and beyond that, the dark palaces of the Infernals. The proximity called to Battousai, and Kenshin could feel it, suddenly, he heard his own voice, "Yet's. Let's finish this."


	6. Into the Gray

How frighteningly like his own face the face of the Battousai was, and so different all at once. Having never had to look himself in the eye this way, Kenshin had never realized just how far away he was from the murderer of his youth. As he shifted and turned, angling his body for the Battoujustsu, he thought of each time someone had told him that he could never defeat or accomplish something without the manslayer. How could someone that young and hateful be something that he was so dependent upon?  
  
The Battousai shifted his stance too, with a mocking grin, matching Kenshin move for move, as if staring into the most terrible kind of fun house mirror. Why should he submit to what he was expected to become? Was this what the Battousai wanted? Not hardly. Of course, while the child of Kenshin's past looked at himself in the not-so-distant future, there wasn't an uncertainty, but the Battousai didn't know, or really care what the future held. Life was now. Birth, life, and death all happened in the span of a breath, and living from one breath to the next, forward always, was the Battousai's only understanding.

Hikari's head turned to see the pair of them facing off, the child and the man. There had been no warning of the split, no pain, no cry of surprise. When she thought about it, this moment was truly inevitable. Farral closed the distance in a blinking instant and stood beside her, looking at the pair.

Farral was frighteningly tall, with Hikari's pale skin and bottomless black hair. His eyes glowed like embers, not the cold detached green of his sister's. His ears were as pointed as hers, but were pierced several times. His wings were batlike, with scabrous talons at the joints. He wore a mustache and beard, because, as he would often say, it makes him look villainous. He looked at his sister, "Well this is an interesting twist in the plot."  
  
Hikari, long since accustomed to her brother, and frankly, still loving him in the way of a sister, nodded, "I have a new deal for you, since these Japanese duels can take a while."  
  
Farral, who knew his sister smiled slowly, "I'm listening."  
  
"Let the mortal choose his own fate. I assume Battousai wants to stay here, Kenshin wants to live out the rest of his days. The victor between them settles this discussion," Despite her attempt to make the deal sound spontaneous, it sounded rehearsed, "Call the scarps of your host down, and sound your retreat. I'll pull mine back as well. It's the only just thing to do. Mortals have free will, let them use it."

Farral nodded, "Agreed," his little champion would easily win. Younger, faster, more ruthless, the Battousai would take home an easy victory. He was surprised at Cairys's recklessness, but never look a gift horse in the mouth. He sounded his recall, and his troops began to fall back into the chasm and the caverns beyond.

Both the mortal souls looked up at the sound, and saw brother and sister standing together, watching them. Hikari tilted her head and eventually, after the call had finished its echo chase around the chasm, said, "If you are both willing to negotiate, we have an idea."

Three more recalls sounded across the valley, sending away the divine hosts. It was Battousai who nodded first. Kenshin looked at Hikari curiously, and began to shake his head. He saw her slowly nod her head and her eyes closed briefly. When she opened them, he saw the world in those eyes, the detached wisdom of Justice.

"I will defer to your judgment, Sogasu Hikari," he said softly. He shifted only his gaze toward the Battousai.

She mouthed the words to him "Trust me."  
  
He pursed his lips and nodded, looking down at his feet. He felt what she said more than heard it. She went on about mortals choosing their own fate, and exercising their free will, and that she and her brother were willing to disengage from this discussion if it could be settled by the mortal in question.  
  
Can I beat him? Kenshin thought to himself. Is this possible? 

The Battousai nodded with confidence, and waited for his counterpart's response.  
  
Kenshin eventually nodded, and as he did, he felt the warmth of the choir in his chest, and breathed it in.

"Right, so then, we wait for about an hour, let them be on even terms? Kenshin's been wounded, and Battousai just had to ride through the real fighting, so he has no wounds," Hikari pointed out.  
  
Farral thought about it and nodded, not like it would make that much of a difference, "Fine then, fix him." He was gone in a withering coil of black smoke.  
  
"So very dramatic," Hikari sighed and looked at Battousai, "Not one step out of line, or I'll do to you what I did before, and there is no release from that pain when you don't have a body to surrender. Park it," she pointed at the ground at his feet.

He looked back at her as if she were speaking a language he didn't understand, not entirely sure how to translate so obstinate a woman as this, "I'll stand."  
  
She shrugged, "You can stand on your head for all I care, just don't leave that spot." She put a protective arm around Kenshin and led him away from the man child that stood starkly still in the field's golden sunlight.  
  
"I can't do this," Kenshin whispered. Hikari knelt in front of him and shuffled him out of his gi.  
  
"No kidding, reaching your own back is difficult," she spun him around to inspect the wound, which looked as though a railroad spike had been driven into the spot between his spine and his shoulder blade. She hissed in sympathy to the wound, "That hurt, didn't it?"  
  
"That's not what I meant," he said.  
  
"I only numbed it and stopped the poison, if you'll hold still, I'll see if I can fix it. The final horn won't be sounded until one of you falls. So I would rather you not have to deal with this right now, " She touched the wound and felt him wince.  
  
"I can't beat him, Hikari."  
  
"Not if you keep saying you can't," She said, "What's so special about him anyway?"  
  
"He's younger, he won't hesitate to deliver a killing blow. His sword moves faster, with the blade on the correct side," Kenshin felt her pull him down to his knees and he obliged.

"Maybe. Were you really such a little pain in the rear? Really, I find him an annoyance at best," she worked gently around the wound, knitting the flesh into itself.  
  
He shrugged, "I didn't think of it that way then. I guess so."  
  
"Kenshin, I'll tell you a secret, and share this with no one." She spun him around to face her, their gazes meeting and for the first time all day, he found true comfort. 

He swallowed and nodded for her to continue.

"You are a god," she looked at him completely serious, as if she had just revealed to him the secrets of the world.

"Hikari, now isn't the time, I don't think," he pushed on her shoulder.

She shook her head and grabbed his fingers in an iron clad grip, "In your mind, Kenshin, you are the Divine Consciousness. You are the Divine Will. You are the master of the worlds in your mind. And that little brat over there is a product of your mind. You are his god, you are his Divine Will and he is under your control. You fight for control because you tried so hard to separate yourself from him. If you allowed him to be the part of you that he is, you would own him."  
  
He looked at her, confused, "Hikari, you've put a great deal of faith in me."

"Because you are your own Divinity in there. He belongs to you, he is your child, your son. You are his creator. Now, the creator can destroy his own creation, but why? Don't destroy him, but make him submit to you. You are not human here, Kenshin. You are not mortal, you are not divine or infernal or anything else. You are a force, and it's about time you acted like it. I believe in you, and I made the bet. I do not like to lose, Kenshin. That child is yours. Take him back," her eyes spoke the passion of her words, and there was a flutter in his chest as her words sunk into him.

He looked at her, "But how can I claim him when I hate him so much?"

"Why hate him?" she asked, "He did evil things, but was not evil itself. He was a tool, he was used and cast aside. You were used and cast aside. You did things that you are ashamed of, that tear at you and eat you away inside. You killed people, for no other reason than someone said it had to be done. And one day, you finally saw the blood, and you were confused, and you walked away. But never, despite everything you have done to atone for your actions, never have you taken responsibility for them. You created this child to bear the blame, and made him arrogant and cruel and evil, when he isn't. Take responsibility for what you have done. Let yourself love and laugh and live. In those things do you redeem yourself, not your constant sorrow, and not by holding this phantom responsible. You can end all of this here. You claim him. Defeat him and he'll submit and Farral nor the ancestors will ever be able to try anything like this again. He belongs to you, the Divine Will of the mind of Kenshin Himura."

"Can I beat him?" Kenshin asked.

"You are his creator. You know everything he knows and then some. You're a god, act like it," she was more serious in that moment than she had been in a while, and Kenshin knew that he had to find faith in her words.

He touched her face, and then her ear, realizing that he had never touched it before, "What about you?" It felt cool and strange to him, the sweeping curve to the point near the crown of her skull. The graceful drop down to the soft earlobe. 

She didn't even smile, "Find faith in yourself before you turn to question me."

He felt her hand press into his back, over the wound, then he felt her head drop and heard her hiss into his shoulder. He held her away from him, looking for whatever was wrong with her, and only found it when he looked at her back. There, next to her wing, was a deep wound, about the size of a railroad spike. "What are you doing?"

She tipped her head at the Battousai, "Go handle things. I'll hold up my end of the bargain. Farral is done this day."

"But you can't fight with that wound," Kenshin said, not sure what to do.

"I can fight with it better than you could, now go." She pushed herself to her feet and faced the Battousai. Kenshin rose under her hand, and after casting one last look at Hikari, who snapped out her wings in response to his unspoken question, he walked toward the most inevitable moment of his life.

Farral appeared beside his sister, and crossed his arms, "Really, we could just surrender this and be done with it. He's going to lose."

Hikari only shook her head.

Kenshin faced the mirror of himself that he always thought showed the ugliest things about himself. I made this, and I have to stop this. I'm the only one who can stop this.

You are. He heard Hikari's voice. How useful will your maturity be? Because your youth was a leach on this world.  
  
I was always the only who could stop this, wasn't I?

Yes.

Why didn't you tell me?

You were being told this all the time. You just never listened before.

You knew this would happen.

I hoped it would happen.

Why?

Because everything happens in the span of a breath. You are born, you live, you die. Breathe deeply, and know the power of life. Pant through your life in fear of yourself, and life leaves you as quickly as it does in an exhalation.

You said you would be here for me.

And I am. Don't be afraid. You want to live, don't you?

I do.

Prove it.

The entire conversation happened in only an instant, and with is next breath, Kenshin looked at his mirror, his creation. He tried, but couldn't think of anything to say. The Battousai only clicked his teeth and sighed with impatience.

Farral leaned in close to Hikari, and she felt a sharp prick at her hip, "I'll let you watch him fall, but Mother and I have had a long talk, and we think you've been at this too long. I'll send you to your rest as the horn sounds."

Hikari's jaw tightened, but she couldn't let Kenshin or anyone else see that there was a problem, "Farral," but she couldn't find a witty response. Her betrayal had just been turned on her, and she was facing the fate she had been prepared to mete out to Farral.

Like two synchronized dancers, the Battousai and Kenshin dropped into the same stance. Then it began, that breathless eternal moment before either of them took a step. Kenshin's hand hovered over the hilt of his sword, he balanced on the balls of his feet, and twisted his body into the all-too-familiar position. He had done this a thousand times before, but never had he thought to face himself like this.

Everything stilled, no wind, no sound, nothing moved, and eventually, there was no thought before the two finally moved into each other.

The impact was not the thunderous clashing of titans, or the crash of waves into the shore, but the passing of a breeze. The two moved as one, locked into a frightening combat that looked to never be able to have a winner. Each knew exactly what the other would do, and matched perfectly.

Hikari waited, until she felt Farral's attention wane. Even he had not seen something so awesomely breathless as this martial contest between the wills of one man. She felt him relax as he concentrated on the scene before them. As soon as she felt the tip of his dagger slip, she pushed him away, hard, and called up a nimbus of white flames around her.

His mind lost in the battle, Kenshin only briefly registered Hikari's cry and the beginning of a battle that ran parallel with his own.

Farral cried out in surprise, and wheeled around on his sister, calling up his own nimbus of roiling black smoke to surround him. He spat a word at her, an unpronounceable thing that crackled across the space at her Only to be stopped by the rolling thunder of her voice to counter him.

Hikari closed the distance between them, both swords in her hands, and the cost of Farral's betrayal written in her gaze, which was now locked onto him.

  
  


Kenshin fended off another assault of blows from the Battousai, steel striking steel with a force that jarred his bones and a fury that jarred his will. He fought back, finding a break in the blows to come bearing down on his younger self. Youth and speed were difficult foes, but experience and the patience that comes with age were proving to be good counterattacks. The two were locked ina spinning dance not of death, but for life. 

Farral's polearm blocked the initial strike of his sister, and he fought back, enraged at how she had gotten the better of him. The flames and smoke collided horribly, sending bright flashes streaking into sky and sparks flying between their furious contest.

Dance with me.

Kenshin heard her voice in his head, so deathly cold and frightening, but somehow, logical to him. He saw his opponent's defeat in those words, and slowed his pace down to find her rhythm.

Soon, Hikari and Kenshin moved together, they were one with each other, not with their opponents. The Battousai fell into a fully defensive position, unable to predict Kenshin's movements because Kenshin couldn't predict where he was going and what he was doing. His body moved in concert with hers, not his opponent's. He dropped and wheeled his swprd up in a wide arc, leaving traces of light behind him. She did the same.

The rhythm between them quickened, reaching a furious pace that left both their opponents almost on their knees. Blow after blow struck weapons, driving them down under the force of the rhythm and the will to live.

A flash of golden light was the only thing that interrupted the assault, and Hikari was pushed back. The lapse gave the Battousai the opportunity ot push his older self away from him, and the two skidded to s a stop, leaving trenches where they had dug their heels in.

Firrin appeared between his children, his hands spread between them, trying to stop the combat. 

Now.

Kenshin straightened and relaxed to take position for his final attack. Hikari straightened and approached her father and brother. Firrin was wrestling with Farral, to get him to drop the dagger that promised Hikari's death. The Battousai closed the distance, not willing to let his enemy have the moment to recollect himself.

It was such a flashing instant that anyone watching would have said that they only heard the sound, and that it was done before the eye could have seen it. At the same instant, the Battousai closed to kill Kenshin, Hikari drew her sword across her palm, staining it bright red with her own blood. At the same instant that Kenshin swept into the attack that stemmed from his will to live, Hikari thrust her sword through her father and into her brother, the mingled blood sealing the covenant of destruction. And in that instant, there was only a thunderous silence.

Kenshin dropped to his knees, breathless over the fading form of Battousai. Hikari caught her father on the way down, both of them breathless and bloody. Kenshin looked at Hikari, who held Firrin's head in her lap, even though she could barely keep herself upright.

A soft, clear sound broke the silence as a crashing wave on a distant shore. A breeze swept across the field, taking the signs of battle with it, and just as it had happened, it looked to have never happened.

Firrin pushed his daughter away, and stood up in disgust. The wound she had made left him as the horn sounded, but the wound she had left by stabbing him to get to her brother still lay open and raw. He stared down at her and shook his head before vanishing.

They both stood at the same time, and ran to each other.

"I told you so," she said.

"Is it over?" he asked.

She nodded, "Would you like to go home now?"He nodded. 

He felt a strange sense of self control, and a strange feeling of its fragility. This victory was only a battle. He would be at war with himself for the rest of his days. This one victory, though, brought him one step closer.

Hikari took his hand, and started to walk with him, "If you don't mind, I though we'd walk, since I'm not in a hurry for you to go."

He nodded, and they walked in silence away from everything. Tine passed, and their silent journey led them into a gray misty place, where Kenshin could not see where he was going, "We won't get lost will we?"

She shook her head, "Not as long as you know where you're going. You know you're going back to your life, so we'll be there soon enough."

Kenshin looked up at her, "Thank you."

She shook her head, "No, thank you."

Kenshin looked down again, "Part of me wishes to stay."

She nodded, "I know." She put her arm over his shoulders and they walked like that, close together, "Much of me wishes you would stay. But that's a selfish thing."

"I though as much," he said.

Soon, he felt the road under their feet, and the mists lightened to a soft gray. The light continued to get brighter and brighter until he felt Hikari stop, "I can't go with you."

He stopped and looked at her, "I don't know what to say."

She shrugged, "Then don't say anything at all."

He shook his head, "I mean, I don't want to say good bye to you."

"Then don't," she said. 

"But I can't stay," he said.

"I know," she answered, "Sometimes, Kenshin, you have to figure things out for yourself. I can't always hand you the answers. This one last time, though, just for sentiment, Don't say goodbye because it's not like I'm actually leaving. I promised you that I would always be with you, even if you aren't with me."

He could only half smile up at her, "I just can't think of any way to repay you."

"You only repay people when you are in debt to them. If anything, I owe you. I'm sorry all of this had to happen to you," She kissed him on the forehead, and enjoyed the taste of him for that instant.

He hugged her tightly, burrowing his face in the crook of her neck, "Will I remember any of this?"

"I hope so, but usually not entirely, usually you just remember bits and pieces," she held on to him, "But why don't you go find out."

He released her and nodded, "Can I come back to you?"

She nodded, "If you would still like to when your time comes. Now go, people worry about you."

She shoved at him gently, and he could only nod and turn away. Hikari stood there on the road and watched him go. Eventually, the light swallowed him, and she stood there alone.

********

"Are you doing it right?" Kaoru asked as Megumi waved a feather over Kenshin's forehead.

She nodded, "The priest said that this would work."

Sure enough, Kenshin's eyes fluttered open, wide, violet and alert, and he was soon smothered in the joy of his friends.

*********

Later, after being struck blind and still continuing onward, he was near the seashore, following Misao, and while he told everyone he heard Misao's footsteps, and that was how he kept up; he was following a distant angel who danced in front of him, just out of his reach, guiding his steps across the rocks.

"Even when you aren't with me."


	7. Pillow Talk and Afterthoughts Author's N...

Post-Coitus (Authors Notes and Random Thoughts)

I went to Japan two years ago, I was introduced to a cartoon that most people believed had the running power of Dragon Ball Z. More than one afternoon was spent watching the cartoon, in its original Japanese (which only confirms how poorly I speak Japanese) and I howled with laughter and wept with empathy in all the right places.

After I got back, I started watching the English version, which, of course, doesn't exactly come on cable, but I live close a really good anime store that does rentals. Frankly, and maybe it was from the mood I had watching the originals, I liked the English version better. Sure, Kenshin sounds much younger than he actually is, and you can see the replacements of Japanese with English terms that make sense to English speaking people, but somehow, I liked it. It did a better job of conveying the feeling of each moment because of the tonal nature of English, which is extremely different from the tonal nature of Japanese, and hard for us English speaking folk to grasp. It's okay, I'm Southern, and my nature of softening my voice and smiling when I get angry or mean was quite amusing (and confusing) to my friends in Japan.

This story is, in a lot of ways, a fictitious study of Japanese religion, which was best phrased as a "Religious Buffet." The time period at issue in the series was a fantastic time for looking into this, as Christianity was just starting to take hold, and western influences were leaking their way in around the seams of a once carefully closed off country. There was a saying that the Japanese are born Shinto and die Buddhist. The saying that came about after the Meiji Era was that Japanese are born Shinto, marry Buddhist, and die Christian. To them, all religions are the same, coming from the same place and essentially achieving the same goals. Religion is a part of nature, and so too, is man, who should show it the degree of respect it is due. People who live in typhoons, I have noticed, have a healthy respect for nature.

I found it an interesting challenge to my Catholic psyche to take a deep look at most of the world's religions and find the commonalities. Druidism (in the old Celtic style, not the Wiccan stuff of today, which is too modernized to fit into this era) blends surprisingly well with Shinto. I used honest Buddhist/Shinto structure in the process of death and advancement, and the concept is largely what I understand to be the concept of religion as a whole to the Japanese.

Japanese beliefs about death say that the spirit separates from the body over the course of 49 days. From there, the spirit becomes a Buddha, enjoying the enlightenment of death and the freedom from the mortal world. After that, the spirit becomes a Kami, and becomes a protector of his family. Trying to think and follow in that course: the road to the bridge takes 49 days, the bridge is representative of the time as a Bhudda, when a spirit can choose between staying an enlightened Buddha, or accepting the responsibility and becoming a Kami. Those who choose to remain Buddha, are absorbed into the enlightenment of the Divine Consciousness, all of their mortal petty concerns are dropped into the Infernal Consciousness. Kami are somewhere in between, neither entirely good, nor entirely evil, they protect something or someone.

Hikari was a difficult character to build. She had a definite physical presence in my mind, and as I was building the personality, I had to find a real balance between something that essentially lives forever and acts as an agent of the world's concept of Justice; and someone who has spent so much of Earth's history in service that she has a limited freedom, and, by nature, a degree of humility. This required a long look at what Justice actually is, and it's a strange balance between revenge, correction, and punishment. So Hikari had to have the ability to think as simply as a child, as lovingly as a mother, and as forceful as a victim, all while being sufficiently detached because impartiality is very much a trait that we like to attribute to Justice. So, while I tried to make her not overbearing, she did have to have a certain degree of arrogance about her. And while I tried not to make her craven, she had to have a complete understanding of where she is on the food chain. 

Not that I expect everyone to understand the complexities of the relationship between Hikari and Kenshin, some of you might notice that she was in love with him as a mortal, and took on more of a motherly aspect when he came into her world. I put a great deal of thought into that, as well. She fell in love with the mortality of him, his desire to live. His spirit, she felt protective toward, believing that it could be nurtured. 

I also spent a great deal of time in dealing with Kenshin's perspective of his past and came to the conclusion that much of his past troubles came about because he had believed himself separate from that life. The Battousai as a separate personality formed to exonerate him of the responsibility of his past and gave him a focus for his blame, and gradually, all the parts of his personality he didn't like about himself. In watching the OAVs, you see that he really is a child at that point, much like any of us were when we were 14 to 18. We didn't have our own real sense of direction, so we went where we were told. The Battousai personality is a crutch for Kenshin, as he states several times in the Kyoto Arc that he can't defeat Shishio without reverting to the Battousai, and even before that, within the first eight episodes when Kaoru is kidnaped by Genji. Sometime before the Tales of the Meiji started toward the whole Son of God series, he seems to stop leaning on the personality as a separate individual. Or, as my husband so aptly put it, he apparently went to one of those anger management seminars that teaches you to use your anger toward something constructive. I suggested that he had been medicated and that his MPD was under control, thanks to Lithium. The result was the compromise place.

I have a hard time grasping many of the female characters in Rurouni Kenshin because they are designed to mock the women that actually existed. Japanese women are nowhere near as impulsive or hysterical as they are portrayed in anime. And they are the true Sensei of the DBSC School of Revenge (Dish Best Served Cold). They get upset about the same things we get upset about. However, rather than start an actual fight over it, they find another way around it. Anime tends to portray women as hysterical for two reasons: (1) it is so unlike a real woman that it is funny, (2) men are a little scared of women in Japan, since they are taking up so much of the workforce now, and literally consuming entire fields of employment.

So that's about it. Umm, as a rule I don't ever apologize for my work, so I'm definitely not sorry that I wrote this. I enjoyed it immensely and posted it because I needed somewhere to put it as my HD is getting too full of the articles and stuff I am supposed to be getting done. I do, however, wonder how I'm going to avoid actually working now that I'm done with this? :)

SS 

  
  



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